Insights into the Global Pig Industry Conference (China)
The 2019 Global Pig Industry Conference was organised on July 9th in Beijing by the Centre for International Agricultural Research of CAAS, Agricultural Information Institute of CAAS, Chinese Agri-products Marketing Association, agribenchmark, InterPIG, and State Pig E-market (SPEM).
Presentations focused on the effects of African Swine Fever (ASF) on global pig industry, including effects of ASF on the global pig industry, trade and marketing, handling and control of ASF, stabilization of pork supplement under the ASF, and the sustainable development of the pig industry. Experts, politicians and manufacturers from 17 countries attended this conference.
Below are summaries of presentations most related to IFFO’s interest.
Effects of ASF on China's meat production- Professor Guochang Xin, Director of the monitoring information division of the animal husbandry and veterinary bureau, MOARA
Relying on data from MOARA, which was carried out from 500 counties, 4,000 villages, 13,000 households, more than 7,000 feed plants, and 9,476 slaughter enterprises, and combined with the analysis of pork consumption, it is predicted that there will be no significant tension or even out of stock for pork supplement during 2019. The pork production is expected to decrease by 10% to 15% and the amount of imported pork will not exceed 1.8 million tons.
The Chinese pork market- Dr. Zengyong Zhu, associate professor of Agricultural Information Institute of CAAS
Pork and chicken home consumption per capita has slightly fluctuated and finally decreased to 1.43 from 2013 to 2017. The pork consumption is expected to decrease and the production to decrease significantly. The Pictures below show the weekly price of live weight pig price in different region since 2018, the ratio of pork and chicken price since 2010 (data collected every two months), and the import amount and average import price of pork from 2009 to 2018.
China’s Pig trading and marketing- Mr. Bin Zhang, CEO of SPEM, the Vice President of the China Agricultural Products Market Association
Mr. Bin Zhang presented a national pig trading platform and a set of electronic trading standards for pigs. The SPEM integrated the production, trading, delivery, inspection and quarantine of raw pig products together to achieve the intelligent networking of pig production and developed a traceability technology of raw pork products.
Other experts attended this conference indicated in their presentations that to control the ASF, local government need to ensure the detection, report, warning and disposal of the epidemic happen in the early stage. In the meantime, local government need to promote the pig industry to be upgraded, make fully use of the existing slaughtering capacity, then accelerate the transformation of the pork supply chain from “pigs circulation” to “meat circulation” to ensure market supply. At present, China's pig breeding is still dominated by free-range households and small to medium-sized pig farms. The circulation of live pigs is mainly completed by the intermediary of pig traders. The control of ASF needs to focus on this part. Therefore, it is urgent to solve the traditional problems and to achieve traceability of raw pork products.
Author: Xiaowen Ling, IFFO China Technical Specialist