Reading Time: < 1 minute China has prohibited the import of pig, pig products and wild boars from Bangladesh after the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reported an outbreak of African swine fever at a farm in the country's major port city of Chittagong.
China blocks pig, boar imports from Bangladesh due to African swine fever
Chinese farmers have ramped up slaughter under cost, price pressure, ASF outbreak
Smaller U.S. swine herd likely as Prop 12 takes effect, think tank says
Canadian pork sector concerned the animal welfare law will act as a non-tariff trade barrier
Reading Time: 2 minutes The cost of compliance with a California animal welfare law, which takes full effect on New Year’s Day, will likely shrink the U.S. national hog herd and lead to further consolidation, a Washington State think tank says. “No one will be spared the change in market pressures,” wrote Pam Lewison, director for the Washington Policy […] Read more
Smithfield Foods ends contracts with 26 US pig farms, citing oversupply
American pork producers have been losing money as pig prices, consumer demand bump against high costs
Reading Time: 2 minutes Smithfield Foods said it will end contracts with 26 hog farms in the U.S. state of Utah, in the latest contraction by the world's largest pork processor in the face of an industry oversupply.
Manitoba hog yard cleared for U.S. export
Separate export certificate had been required for yard's cull sows
Reading Time: < 1 minute U.S. authorities have lifted an order that required sows from one Manitoba assembly yard to be certified free of Seneca Valley virus before crossing the border. The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed Canada in the second-last week of November had now met protocol conditions for Seneca Valley virus and has lifted the health certificate requirement, […] Read more
ASF compartmentalization moves a step forward
Plan not an attempt to download responsibilities, CFIA says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada is one step closer to a compartmentalizing regime that hog farmers and the rest of the industry hope protects them against market impacts of African swine fever. Practical application can be developed now that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has released its National Standards and National Framework for the Canadian ASF Compartment Program. From […] Read more
Swine fever detected in Sweden for first time
Recent outbreak in Balkans spurred culls
Reading Time: < 1 minute Stockholm | Reuters — A dead wild boar in Sweden has tested positive for African swine fever, Sweden’s Veterinary Institute said on Wednesday, the first such case in the country. African swine fever is harmless to humans but is highly contagious and deadly in domestic pigs and wild boars. It has spread from Africa to […] Read more
Farrowing heat pad firm to bring hog cooling pads to market
Manitoba's IHT to offer new system next spring
Reading Time: 2 minutes A Winnipeg-area company providing heating pad and lighting systems for hog barns is set to add a U.S.-developed line of hog cooling pads to its product lineup. IHT (Innovative Heating Technologies) Group announced Thursday it will make and sell a line of water-cooled pads that use a patented system designed at Purdue University in Indiana, […] Read more
Vietnam approves commercial use of first African swine fever vaccines
U.S. Agriculture Secretary says farmers may purchase as precaution despite no domestic cases
Reading Time: < 1 minute Hanoi | Reuters – Vietnam has approved the domestic commercial use of two home-grown vaccines against African swine fever, the government said on Monday, making them the world’s first commercial vaccines against the deadly disease. The vaccines include NAVET-ASFVAC, co-developed by Navetco Central Veterinary Medicine and scientists from the United States, and AVAC ASF LIVE […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs, most live cattle lower
Feeder cattle futures also down
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago lean hog and cattle futures closed mainly lower Thursday with the exception of front-month February live cattle, which remained on its record-setting upward slope. CME February live cattle finished up 0.225 cent at 162.775 cents/lb., extending the nearly-eight-year high on a continuous chart of the front contract (all figures US$). Most actively-traded April live […] Read more
Manitoba pork industry grows despite ‘uncertainty’
Bacon plant, breeding facility show sector strength
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — The current state of Manitoba’s pork industry is evident in a pair of large investments within the sector, according to the general manager of Manitoba Pork. Cam Dahl, who was named GM of the provincial pork organization in February last year after previously working for Manitoba Beef Producers and Cereals Canada, cited two […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
