World meat industry news

According to the Rosselkhoznadzor, at the beginning of this week there were 78 active outbreaks of ASF in Russia. In early August, there were two times fewer outbreaks. Recently, new cases of African swine fever have been reported almost every day. At the moment, quarantines have been introduced in some areas of the Nizhny Novgorod, Ivanovo, Kaluga, Volgograd regions.

The leader in the number of outbreaks remains the Kostroma region - there are 20 active outbreaks of ASF (as of 09/05/2022). Due to a dangerous virus, the largest Kostroma pig farm Shuvalovo previously decided to eliminate 6,000 pigs. Recently, ASF was detected at one of the sites of the Miratorg pig-breeding complex in the Oryol region. Almost three thousand livestock is subject to destruction.

Here is what the chief expert of the National Union of Pig Breeders Grigory Askanyan told the National Agrarian Agency about the situation:

- History repeats itself: like last year, outbreaks of ASF appear in the second half of the year. Of course, this affects companies that are affected by ASF. Naturally, they will not produce the meat they planned, and the production cycle of these companies is disrupted. Now the most important thing is to get insurance, including for livestock, so that you can spend this money on measures to eliminate the consequences of the virus and save staff. We had outbreaks at industrial enterprises in the Kostroma region (Shuvalovo), the Kaliningrad region (Baltic Meat Company), now in the Oryol region (Miratorg). But this year we have a good plus in pig breeding and the current situation globally does not affect the price and the markets. According to our forecasts, next year there will also be a big “plus” in production, i.e. by and large, the situation will not seriously affect the pork market in Russia.

Askanyan: The virus does not originate in industrial complexes, and it is impossible to say for sure how it gets there. Therefore, we can only speculate. In the spring, wild animals have offspring. In the summer, their population grows stronger, and then wild animals begin to migrate and spread the virus. Then grain harvesting begins, and in a car with 20 tons of grain, 1 kg may be infected. How will you catch him? In addition, due to the change in the economic situation, people in rural areas are again starting a pig population, which is kept beyond all norms. Here are the main reasons.