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Pig International e-News
May 25, 2006
This newsletter is also available in a Acrobat PDF format.
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Your fast-track guide to reports in this
issue:
- Croatia becomes a hot-spot
- Japan sees a boom in demand
- Europe뭩 sow numbers stabilise
- AI makes headlines
- USA prepares for more exports
- Action call in Ireland
- How European herd sizes compare
- Integrators and processors
- British fair gives housing details
- Shows and seminars
- Companies and people
- Data in brief
- Latest job opportunities
- Send us your news
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Croatia becomes a hot-spot Official restrictions on
the importation of pigmeat are helping to promote local pork production in
Croatia. Formerly a Yugoslav republic, this country across the Adriatic
Sea from northern Italy is thought likely to produce 55 000 tons of pork
in 2006 compared with 49 000 tons in 2005 and so take annual production
back to a level last seen at the end of the 1990뭩.
Only frozen meat can be imported, although Croatian producers are
allowed to bring in piglets for finishing from countries such as the
Netherlands. Recent pig prices at slaughter locally have been at around
?1.80, to compare with a production cost that is put at some ?1.60/kg for
the better producers.
Profitability has encouraged a big expansion, most notably by the
feed-company integrators. They have been expanding quickly by renting farm
buildings to house sows or grow-finish pigs. Local sources insist that the
determination and the money are present to support further substantial
growth. The weak point is the poor structure of slaughtering facilities in
the country, with few entrepreneurs willing to target the abattoir sector
for their investments.
Japan sees a boom in demand Consumption of pigmeat
in Japan has been booming this year. Data including a bulletin from the US
department of agriculture show the Japanese uptake of pork rising by 7% in
the first quarter of 2006, encouraged by limits on the supply of other
meats that have increased their prices. Beef from the USA has been banned
because of cattle disease BSE. Per-person pork uptake in Japan remains
around 20kg annually, having increased from under 18kg in 2000.
Latest forecasts say the 915 000 sows in the 9.5-million-pigs national
pig herd will produce over 17 million slaughter pigs in 2006, yielding
about 1.25 million metric tons of pork. Japan imported 873 000 tons of
fresh and frozen pork last year, from 863 800 tons in 2004 and 752 600
tons in 2003. USA remained the main supplier, deliveries from Canada rose
6% and those from Chile by 3%. Pork imports are expected to fall in 2006,
an MLC bulletin has commented, although Japan imported nearly 4% more
pigmeat in the first quarter of this year (at 177 400 tons) than in the
same period of 2005. Almost 59 000 tons were from the USA, over 43 000
tons from Denmark, more than 36 000 tons from Canada, over 13 000 tons
from Chile and over 10 000 tons from Mexico.
Tokyo agriculture ministry annual census figures have revealed an
increase in the breeding herd from 913 000 sows in August 2004 to 914 737
sows a year later. Production was shown to have concentrated on relatively
few units. Out of a total of 7731 herds with sows, only 119 contained more
than 1000 sows and another 209 were in the 500-1000 sows category. Yet
these 328 enterprises accounted for almost 42% of all sows.
Europe뭩 sow numbers stabilise Analysis of the pig
inventory data collected by Eurostat for the 25 members of the European
Union at the end of 2005 has confirmed EU sow numbers had stayed
relatively unchanged from the previous year at almost 14.9 million,
although still well down from the 15.2 million sows found in 2003.
As the accompanying Table
demonstrates, however, only 7 countries in the EU-25 increased their
number of breeding sows. Slovenia registered the largest gain in
percentage terms, at 11.8%, followed by Poland at 9.7% and Latvia at 5.5%.
Biggest loss was the 6.8% for the UK, with Denmark down 4.1% and Estonia
lower by 3.6%.
AI makes headlines Government funds in Spain are
supplying up to 35% of the total budget of ?1.6 million for a new pig
artificial insemination centre in the province of Aragon. Capable of
producing 300 000 doses of boar semen annually, the centre at Peralta de
Calas?z has been built for Aragon-based feed manufacturers Agropienso and
Peinsos Costa to support their pig supply programmes.
It is achieving one of the highest levels of traceability on semen
doses of any AI station in Spain, through computer software for integrated
laboratory equipment management supplied by IMV. The identification of the
boar using an electronic chip reader leads to the printing of a barcode
that follows the semen until it is packaged. Semen concentration and
weight are evaluated with a spectrophotometer and scale linked directly to
the computer. A dilution protocol is pre-entered that calculates the
number of doses to be produced from the particular ejaculate. Information
passed automatically from the computer controls the quantity of diluent
added and the labelling of doses.
Hermitage Deutschland GmbH, German arm of Hermitage Genetics from
Ireland, reports finalising the purchase of an AI Station at Golzow in
Germany뭩 Brandenburg region as the company sees demand for its
high-health stock continuing to increase ?over 30 000 gilts were sold in
2005. The station has accommodation for 300 boars. It will continue to be
run by the existing manager, Frank Temmen, with the introduction of ISO
9001 laboratory processing procedures. Semen from maternal and terminal
line boars will be exported to various parts of eastern Europe as well as
supplied directly to producers in the German market.
An illustration of the way in which electronic recording has entered
the pig AI business has been provided by a newsletter from
Netherlands-based Farm software bv. This describes how the company was
asked to develop transponder identification and barcode scanning for AI
studs to carry out registration. The result, unveiled at the VIV Europe
show this month, was a collection module as an additional element of the
company뭩 sow management programming. This module enables the AI operator
to register data such as the amount and quality of doses captured and
produced. Additionally, it is possible to produce analyses at boar level,
boar cards and input reports. Labels with barcodes can also be printed
out.
Concerns about pig AI have been expressed in the UK in recent months.
The British Pig & Poultry Fair was informed of an initiative that will
include the introduction of a quality standard for boar semen and the
establishment of a national reference laboratory. This is a British Pig
Executive (BPEX) project that will also involve on-farm recording of 60
herds across the country to see if breeding herd performance is improving.
The reference laboratory based at Leeds, northern England, will use the
latest technology to assess semen quality. Breeding companies will be able
to use these facilities to have samples of semen tested.
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USA prepares for more exports Larger
pork supplies will combine with favorable exchange rates for the US dollar
against competitor currencies to take American exports of pigmeat to new
heights in 2007, on latest USDA forecasts. These see US pork production up
about 2% next year to 9.85 million metric tons, from 9.63 million tons in
2006 and 9.39 million tons in 2005. Exports are expected to increase 5%
from 1.25 million tons in 2006 to 1.36 million tons in 2007. It would mean
exports accounting for about 14% of production compared with just over 6%
only 10 years ago.
One of the driving forces in greater production will be
increased imports of live pigs from Canada. Says USDA, about 8.9 million
Canadian pigs are forecast to be imported in 2006 and this number could
rise by 5.6% to 9.4 million in 2007. There will also be a higher
proportion of animals weighing 50 kilograms or less, possibly beyond the
68% recorded in 2003. The trend is powered by a continued appreciation in
value of the Canadian dollar, tending to make Canadian pork products more
expensive in international markets while also limiting prices that
Canadian slaughter operations can pay for pigs. Comparatively lower prices
offered by Canadian processors create incentives to export pigs to the USA
where finishing costs are typically lower and pig prices are typically
higher than in Canada.
Action call in Ireland Ireland뭩
producers have been invited to form an action plan for the pig sector by
the end of 2006. The Irish industry has faced a crisis since publication
of a national nitrate directive that would limit nitrogen and phosphorus
application rates to land and effectively stop the spreading of pig slurry
on grassland. Local observers have warned of a decline that could reduce
the industry below the level where it sustained support services such as
feed-mills and pork processing plants. There have also been warnings of a
growing threat to farms from the urbanisation of rural Ireland, increased
competition from imported pigmeat and difficulties in finding suitable
labour for pig units.
The latest environmental restrictions on applying
phosphorus through manure to grassland are the toughest in Europe. Yet up
to 90% of farmland is pasture. Most pigs are located in cattle country,
remote from tillage land. Although the governmental agriculture ministry
wants to see slurry being separated mechanically and transport of the
solids to croplands, the estimated cost seems prohibitively high.
healthbred@jsr.co.uk">
A review by development agency Teagasc says the country
has about 155 000 breeding sows, out of a total inventory of 1.8 million
pigs. The sows are located principally in the counties (administrative
areas) of Cork (29 000 sows), Cavan (27 000), Tipperary (17 000),
Waterford (8000) and Longford (8000). When expressed as the agricultural
area used per sow, pig density in Ireland is low at 2.6 compared with 1.9
for the Netherlands, 2.0 for Denmark and 2.2 for Belgium. The county of
Cavan has the highest pig density in Ireland at 4.7 hectares per sow.
How European herd sizes compare An
assessment of average herd size in the 25 European Union countries has
appeared in a food-chain report from EU statistics bureau Eurostat. This
shows almost 152 million pigs in total last year, at an average of 69 pigs
per unit. The extremes went from 6 pigs/unit in Lithuania and 9 in Latvia
and Hungary to 1038 pigs/unit in the Netherlands, 1207 pigs/unit in
Denmark and 1583 pigs/unit in Ireland. In fact, 14 out of the 25 countries
had averages of 160 or more.
Candidate membership countries Romania and Bulgaria were
also assessed. The Eurostat data for 2005 gave a Romanian total of 6.341
million pigs at an average of 2 per unit. The average for Bulgaria was 3,
with the national inventory totalling 933 000 pigs.
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Integrators and processors Vion of the Netherlands
has started operating its recently acquired Euromeat slaughterhouse at
Groenlo and announced the closure of a previous village-centre factory at
Lichtenvorde. The newly named Vion Groenlo will handle some 18 000-20 000
slaughter pigs per week. It also gives the Dutch group facilities for
slaughtering 2000 sows/week, further enabling a single visit by
transporters to closed-system farms in the supply network. The group
estimates its 170 000 pigs/week slaughtering capacity in the Netherlands
means about 60% of the Dutch market. Managers say the market share has
been behind the success of their initiative this year to introduce a
transparent pricing policy. All producers now receive the same so-called
platform price per kilogram depending on carcase evaluation, with a bonus
according to the number of pigs in the batch.
Vion also reports that producers representing about 70% of all
slaughter pig supply for its factories now participate in an internet
results feedback arrangement launched as FarmingNet. Moreover,
calculations from the first 8 months of operation have suggested that
participants have received an average of ?0.6 per kilogram extra from
using the abattoir data to improve their farm production practices.
A local government report from Russia뭩 Tomsk region says regional
integrator Siberian Agrarian Group produced 15 700 tonnes of pork in 2005,
a year-on-year increase of 7.5%, according to the Interfax news agency.
This was out of a Tomsk total production assessed at 17 000 tonnes.
Siberian Agrarian operates a pork production complex of 118 000 pigs with
2 meat factories and a feed plant. It also produces dairy products and
beer, and operates a number of retail outlets in the Tomsk region.
Meal Leaf Foods in Canada has signed diagnostics specialist Clinical
Data Inc to assist in the further development and commercialisation of its
DNA pork traceability programme. Meat is traced using genetic links to its
farm of origin. Blood samples collected from every sire and every dam in
the farms where traceability is to be established build into a database in
which each parental animal has its unique DNA fingerprint recorded.
Clinical Data뭩 Cogenics division will further develop the fingerprinting
panel based on a large set of proprietary markers spread throughout the
porcine genome. In addition to acting as the genotyping service provider,
it also becomes responsible for developing and marketing this system.
Smithfield Foods Inc of the USA has announced entering into an
exclusive negotiation period regarding the purchase of the European meats
business of Sara Lee Corporation. Headquartered in Hoofddorp, Netherlands,
Sara Lee뭩 European meats business generated US$1.1 billion in sales in
fiscal 2005. It holds its largest market positions in France, Portugal and
the Benelux region, with popular European brands such as Aoste, Justin
Bridou and Nobre. The company also has a presence in Germany, Italy and
the United Kingdom. |
British fair gives housing details More detailed
information about a pig housing project planned for the UK was given at
the latest British Pig & Poultry Fair. Funded by the national pig
executive, it offers a housing blueprint for the British industry as a way
of reducing the costs associated with the current situation in which
producers have buildings designed to suit their own circumstances. The 4
options in the blueprint start with a wean-to-finish house holding 560
pigs on straw, at an estimated cost of UK?62 per pig place. Next is a
traditional 1000-pig finishing house with slats/slurry and a supported
roof truss construction, at UK?56-?80 per pig place. For a 1000-pig
slurry-based finisher house with clearspan portal framed construction the
estimated price tag is UK ?80 per pig place. Finally, an American style
slurry-based finisher for 1000 pigs is priced at UK ?22 per pig place.
Shows and seminars VIV Europe trade fair brought 21
984 visitors from 126 countries to Utrecht in the Netherlands in May, said
the organisers. Although the number of visitors from the Netherlands and
other parts of western Europe was lower than at the 2003 show, more people
came from the emerging countries of eastern Europe, from Asia and from the
Middle East.
Boehringer Ingelheim is staging a second symposium on ileitis during
the 2006 International Pig Veterinary Society Congress that takes place in
Denmark in July. The symposium at the Copenhagen Congress Centre on the
afternoon of 17th July has a speaker line-up of Roberto Guedes (University
of Minas Gerais, Brazil) on health as the driver for exploiting genetic
potential, Connie Gebhart (University of Minnesota, USA) giving the inside
story on subclinical ileitis, Steven McOrist (University of Nottingham,
UK) on past, present and future tools to diagnose ileitis, plus
practitioner reports on the efficacy of the company뭩 Enterisol Ileitis
oral vaccine.
A deadline of 24th August 2006 has been set for registration to attend
the international postgraduate course on advances in feed evaluation
science, being held 11th-16th September at Wageningen University and
Research Centre in the Netherlands. Course leaders will be Prof. W.
Hendriks and Prof. M. Verstegen from the Dutch university and Prof. P.
Moughan from Massey University in New Zealand. More details are at website
wbs.wur.nl.
Next conference of the Australasian Pig Science Association will take
place in Brisbane, Australia, 25th-28th November 2007.
Companies and people Breeding company Hypor has
announced signing joint-venture agreements with 2 of China뭩 largest
agribusiness companies, Sichuan South Hope Co (new Hope) and Shandong
Liuhe Group, for the production and distribution of breeding pigs in
China. USA-based nutrition company JBS United has a minority share in the
Liuhe joint venture. The agreements involve 2 breeding farms of 600 sows,
on in Sichuan province and one in Shandong province. They will serve the
pork integrations of New Hope and Liuhe that have capacity to produce 5-6
million slaughter pigs per year. Hypor will supply the breeding pigs and
technical expertise, while New Hope and Liuhe will provide the farms and
market opportunities. The breeder explains that the Chinese companies are
linked by equity holdings. New Hope뭩 base in Sichuan puts in at the
centre of a province that produced about 80 million pigs in 2005. Liuhe뭩
home province of Shandong produce about 50 million pigs last year.
Wilfrid Moulin has been appointed export manager of Farm묨pro France,
nutrition and hygiene products company of French pork co-operative
Cooperl.
Technical results for Dutch herds collected by Topigs were reported by
the breeder to show an average of 25.1 pigs weaned per sow in 2005. The
average was based on data of over 800 commercial farms in the Netherlands,
housing in total over 270 000 sows. In 2005, Topigs sows produced 12.18
liveborn pigs per litter, some 0.42 pigs/litter more than in 2001. In the
same period, the pig mortality before weaning dropped from 12.3% to 11.7%.
Of the farms with Topigs genetics, 10% achieved an average of more than 28
weaned pigs per sow/year.
At the opening of the VIV Europe in the Netherlands, Pig
International editor Peter Best received the first European Pig
Personality of the Year award sponsored by show organiser VNU Exhibitions
and Positive Action Publications. The citation recognised his role as a
communicator 뱖ho has kept the industry informed of developments in the
pig world over many years?
Nutri Advance of France has been appointed exclusive broker on the
European market, in partnership with Spanish company Ph Iberica, for the
Biotite V feed product of Korean developer Seobong Biobestech. A silica
clay with the same chemical formula as vermiculite, the mineral is being
offered as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoters after tests on
pigs identified an immune system stimulation effect.
UK-based genetics company JSR has confirmed signing a franchise
agreement with S C Consinterfin SRL of Romania in a deal that has the
backing of the SAPARD funding programme that assists rural development in
countries that will join the European Union. JSR will supply Genepacker 90
and 105 dam lines and Quantum boars, to create a 450-sow, nucleus herd in
Romania. Also announced by the company is its winning of an order from the
Vira 1 food business in the Ukraine to develop a sow network including
within-herd multiplication. Located in Ukraine뭩 Volyn region, the
foundation unit will begin with 700 sows. It will be based on Large White
and Landrace GP animals with Genepacker 90 gilts and Yorker terminal
sires.
Dr Silvia Peris Miras has been promoted to technical director at
feeding products company Industrial Tecnica Pecuaria (ITPSA) in Spain.
Agro Partners Ltd has been formed in Denmark under the ownership of 60
Danish pig producers, to co-ordinate their purchases of supplies such as
feed and pen equipment while also taking care of staff training
requirements. Chairman Bernhard Mortensen is a producer from Jutland with
1500 sows. He is also a co-investor in a 3000-sow project.
UK-based pig breeding company UPB Ltd has revealed details of a new
1200-sow nucleus and multiplication herd it is to set up with Farm
Zolotonoshsky, a leading agricultural operation in Ukraine. Initial aim of
the new unit will be to populate and maintain a 10 000-sow integrated
commercial production operation. UPB will supply GGP nucleus Large White
and Landrace dam lines and its Alba terminal sire. The deal includes a
3-year technical support agreement.
Huvepharma was launched at the VIV Europe exhibition as a new
international identity for Bulgarian company Biovit after its purchase of
feed additives previously sold by Intervet. Operating offices are at
Antwerp, Belgium, where Dr Alain Kanora is named global marketing manager.
Biovet in Peshtera, Bulgaria, is maintained as Huvepharma뭩 manufacturing
subsidiary.
Sam McIvor, who has been appointed as the new chief executive officer
for the New Zealand Pork Industry Board.
Northern Ireland based pig buildings company Portapig has announced its
purchase of UK housing manufacturer Pyramid Systems, giving it a base in
northern England .
CTB Inc in the USA has signed an agreement to purchase a controlling
interest in the Israeli enterprise that owns climate control and feed
regulation company Agro Logic. Current owners Jan Lichten and Johanan
Hershtik will retain an equity interest in the company as well as
continuing as co-managing directors.
American breeder Newsham Genetics reports collaborative research with
Gentec nv of Belgium that has discovered how to manage the IGF2?gene for
enhanced reproduction in the breeding herd and desirable lean traits in
market animals. It utilises the fact that the IGF2 genetic marker has 2
forms, one of which increases muscle mass while the other gives greater
reproductive potential. It can therefore be exploited separately in the
selection of dam and sire lines. Newsham manages the IGF2 genotype in
SuperMom females and SuperSire terminal boars.
Impextraco in Belgium has introduced a new company logo (멗mpextraco ?
Expert in Optimizing Ingredients? when also launching an Xtra-Performance
series of ingredients to enhance the inherent nutritional quality of feed,
to complement its Power Protexion range of protective feed materials.
Animal nutrition activities of Provimi Group brought a 16.7% increase
in turnover for the first quarter of 2006, said the company. Sales
amounted to ?420.1 million. Feed businesses performed particularly well in
the Netherlands, in Spain and across central and eastern Europe, notably
in Romania, Bulgaria and Russia, including the newly acquired Rybflotprom
premix business.
Data in brief Russia reports an inventory of 17.33
million pigs at the start of 2006, representing a 5% increase from the
previous year and taking numbers back to the levels recorded in 2003/04.
Russian slaughterings this year could rise to 33.8 million pigs from just
under 32 million in 2005 so that pork production grows to 1.77 million
tons from 1.67 million tons.
Australia in 2005 saw an output of 5.33 million slaughter pigs giving
387 540 tons of pork produced, down from 5.43 million slaughterings and
394 280 tons production in 2004.
Poland뭩 national office of statistics says Polish production of 1.96
million tons of pigmeat in 2005 exceeded the national uptake by 4%,
leaving 74 000 tons available for export. First forecasts for Poland in
2006 are a consumption rising to 2 million tons and production growing to
2.14 million tons.
Korea average 17.4kg per person/year for pork uptake in 2005, down from
17.9kg in 2004, meaning that total consumption last year worked out at 838
000 tons.
Germany뭩 national statistics showed that the November 2005 inventory
of 27 million pigs was contained on 91 000 units.
Estonia뭩 rapid concentration of its pig production was illustrated by
a Statistics Estonia report that 85 per cent of all pigs on farms in 2005
were to be found on farms with more than 1000 pigs each.
Norway at the start of 2006 had 101 700 breeding sows. These were
on.2000 farms, said Statistics Norway, compared with 4500 in 1995. The
average number of sows per unit has risen meanwhile from 20 to
51. |
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