German authorities have reported a 9th pig farm to be infected with African Swine Fever. The virus was confirmed in a finishing farm in the state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in the country’s north east.

The volume of pork imports in 2024 is three times less than a year earlier, according to preliminary results of foreign trade in January-May. Analysts of theAssociation of Ukrainian Pig Breeders told more about the reasons and consequences of such changes.

Over the past three weeks, outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) have been reported among farmed swine in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, the Philippines, Romania, South Africa, South Korea and Vietnam.

According to France AgriMer data published on 5 June 2024, the United States remains the leader in global agricultural exports with a market share of almost 8.7%.

The import of pigs for slaughter increased by 9.6% and meat and meat product imports increased by 3.9% in the first quarter of 2024.

At the initiative of the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders, within the framework of the joint project with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) "Ensuring Animal Health in Ukraine", relevant laboratory tests are being carried out to determine the sensitivity of bacterial pathogens in pigs to antibiotics.

African swine fever continues to spread in Europe and other parts of the world. Food also plays a role. If unheated feed or leftovers from infected animals are fed to uninfected animals, the virus can spread to previously ASF-free regions and thus to domestic pig herds. As the virus is stable in the environment, it has long been assumed that it can also be transmitted via feed, water and other materials.

The reduced pork production in Brazil can be attributed to slightly weaker domestic demand in 2024.

US pork exports to South America started the year strong, while exports to Japan saw a slight decline in the first quarter, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF).

Vietnamese authorities have given the go-ahead for selected pork sites across the UK to start commercial trade, according to a recent market report from AHDB. 

Chinese companies plan to request that authorities open an anti-dumping investigation into imports of some pork products from the European Union, the state-backed Global Times newspaper reported on Saturday, citing an unidentified "business insider", reported Reuters. 

Leaders in Canada, the US and Mexico remain on high alert to prevent entry of African Swine Fever (ASF) into North America, as vaccine advances continue worldwide.

The disease continues to plague many countries around the world. 14 countries in Europe recorded commercial farm ASF outbreaks in 2023. This is the worst result since 2014, according to the latest annual report of the European Food Safety Authority.

In 2023, the EU's livestock populations were lower than a year earlier, according to a recent report from Eurostat. Compared with 2022, the pig and bovine populations decreased by 1%, while sheep declined by 3%, and goats by 5%. In 2023, the EU had 133 million pigs, 74 million bovine animals, 58 million sheep, and 11 million goats. This information comes from provisional data on the EU’s livestock population, published today by Eurostat.

Korea on Tuesday reported its first African swine fever (ASF) case in around nine months.

The third decade of May was marked by the recovery of quotations in the industrial pork market, according to the results of the weekly price monitoring of the analytical department of the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders.

At the beginning of 2024, Ukraine's industrial pig production showed the first signs of recovery. According to expert estimates, the number of main sows in agricultural enterprises increased by more than 5% compared to the figure at the start of 2023 and amounted to ˃215 thousand. How these changes affected the genetic structure of the Ukrainian industrial pig industry was investigated by analysts of the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders.

The Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders (AUPB) is working with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop an industry standard on biosecurity as part of the project "Keeping Animals Healthy in Ukraine".