Hamburg | Reuters — German pig prices were unchanged this week despite the discovery of the disease African swine fever in farm animals, German animal farmers’ association VEZG said on Wednesday. German pig prices were the same as last week at 1.42 euros (C$2.10) per kilogram slaughter weight, the VEZG said. A third case of […] Read more
German hog market shrugs off swine fever discovery on farms
Swine fever containment plan agreed to
Reading Time: < 1 minute If African swine fever ever found its way into wild pigs in Canada, exports of pigs and pork would come to a screeching halt — even if commercial hog farms were totally free of infection. But food inspection agencies in Ottawa and Washington have come up with a plan to “minimize trade impacts while protecting […] Read more
ASF virus is deadly but the fallout from an outbreak even worse
Health officials can deal with an African swine fever outbreak, but not its huge market disruption, says top expert
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s a nightmare scenario — but if African swine fever arrived in Canada, the economic consequences would be much harder to deal with than the virus itself. “African swine fever is a big problem with very big challenges,” Dr. Egan Brockhoff said during a recent virtual presentation. “Big is an understatement. This is a global […] Read more
Swine fever found in Germany putting pork exports at risk
Country had been fencing off borders against wild boar
Berlin/Hamburg | Reuters — Germany confirmed on Thursday that African swine fever (ASF) had been found in a dead wild boar near its border with Poland, threatening pork exports to China from Europe’s biggest pork producer, which were worth US$1.2 billion last year. Authorities in the German state of Brandenburg quarantined a 15-km area around […] Read more
African swine fever: The other virus that is changing the world order
A third of global pork production has been vaporized, and the effects are being felt worldwide
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s another virus that has been upending the world order in ways that no one ever could have predicted, although it’s mostly flying under the radar. “Right now, 75 per cent of the world’s hogs are threatened, and a third of the global swine herd just vanished last year,” Brett Stuart of Global AgriTrends said […] Read more
U.S. says it would ban pig shipments if swine fever detected
Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday it will prohibit shipments of all pigs for at least three days if the nation ever finds a case of a fatal hog disease that has ravaged China’s herd. The federal government is preparing to contain and eradicate African swine fever if it spreads […] Read more
African swine fever spreads near German border
Paris | Reuters — Poland recorded 55 outbreaks of African swine fever in wild boar near the German border last month, the world animal health body said on Thursday, in a sign the deadly virus is spreading near one of the European Union’s biggest pork exporters. A report posted on the World Organization for Animal […] Read more
China reshapes global meat markets as swine fever rages
London | Beijing | Reuters – China is scouring the world for meat to replace the millions of pigs killed by African swine fever (ASF), boosting prices, business and profits for European and South American meatpackers as it re-shapes global markets for pork, beef and chicken. The European Union, the world’s second largest pork producer […] Read more
China’s pork output to fall by at least 20 percent in 2019: FAO
Paris | Reuters – African swine fever (ASF) will cut pork output in China, the world’s largest producer, by at least 20 percent in 2019, the United Nations’ food agency said on Thursday, doubling the decline it had expected six months ago. The disease has slashed China’s hog herd since August 2018, pushing Chinese pork […] Read more
No country immune to risk of African swine fever spreading: OIE
Paris | Reuters – African swine fever will spread further across Asia where it has devastated herds, and no country is immune from being hit by the deadly animal virus, the head of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Wednesday. The disease, which has hit the world’s top pork producer China hard, […] Read more
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