Meat prices will start rising internationally over the course of 2008, said a market report for FAO, but this will not include pigmeat in the major exporting countries where farrowing levels in 2007 have resulted in surpluses that are building up in stocks.
Philippines sources note a sharp increase in the price of pork to P180 per kilogram in Metro Manila over past weeks partly due to a shortage of pigs in Bulacan, which normally supplies 60% of the total of over 6000 pigs that the metropolis requires every day. Bulacan was hit last year by disease episodes with swine influenza and classical swine fever/hog cholera that have since cut its supplies to Manila by at least 2000 pigs/day.
Britain’s UK£1.5million scheme providing vouchers for PCV2 vaccines is now up and running. Run by BPEX and open to all English producers whether they already use a circovirus vaccine or are new users, the schemes supplies monthly vouchers with a value of UK£2.20 per dose of sow vaccine and UK£0.40 per dose of piglet vaccine. Vouchers must be returned with veterinary receipt for that month's PCV2 vaccine. Producers must also provide information on the outcome of the vaccine’s use, towards a research project is to measure the effects of PCV2 vaccination of sows or piglets on herd health, welfare, mortality and physical performance by unit, region and on a national scale.
Russia’s Economic Development and Trade Ministry has drawn up a list of staple foods, including pork, which could be subject to price regulation, according to Interfax. A bill on retail trade containing the proposal was submitted to government agencies in late March. A ministry official said that regulation could take the form of a price cap or restrictions on price mark-ups. Also, 3 enterprises with the right to export pork are included on a new list of companies in Argentina permitted by Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s food and agricultural authority, to send meat to Russia.
Slovenia recorded a 9.7% increase in its number of breeding pigs in 2007, said the national office of statistics, with boar numbers up 5.1%, even though the total on-farm inventory of 542 590 pigs last December had been down 5.7% from a year earlier.
Ukrainian parliament members have proposed the introduction of a monthly pork import quota of 10 000 tons before Ukraine joins the World Trade Organisation (WTO), according to news agency Interfax. The MPs are proposing a total monthly all-meats import quota of 20 000 tons. The parliament has registered the proposal as a draft law that envisages a duty of up to 15% on pork imported by companies with their own processing facilities. Meanwhile the Ukrainian government and a number of foodstuff producers and retailers have signed a memorandum of understanding in order to stabilise prices of basic foodstuffs, including pork.
Croatia’s total of 1.35 million pigs in 2007 was an annual decrease of 3%, reports the Croatian Central Bureau of Statistics. The total included 177 000 sows and gilts.
Latvia’s central statistical bureau has reported an average producer price of LVL751 (US$1663) per ton liveweight for pigs in Latvia in 2007, down by 1.6% from the 2006 level.
Spain’s trade data for 2007 show an 8% rise in pigmeat exports although the 1.7 million live pigs exported were 640 000 fewer than in 2006.
