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US Meat Trade Faces Uncertainty Ahead of Tariff Implementation
On Thursday, President Trump reaffirmed his plan to impose 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada, set to take effect on February 1, 2025. He is also considering an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports.
The announcement has heightened uncertainty across many industries, including the livestock and meat sectors. The tariffs threaten to significantly disrupt live cattle shipments from Mexico and Canada, both key suppliers...
Compounding these challenges, a ban on feeder cattle imports from Mexico remains in effect following...
Morocco Stops German Feed Grain Imports Over Foot-and-Mouth Disease
Morocco has halted imports of feed grains from Germany following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the head of Morocco's grain trade federation (FNCL) said on Thursday.
The import suspension affected "all untreated plant-based feed intended for animal consumption from Germany due to the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak there," Omar Yacoubi told Reuters.
A source at Morocco's food safety agency ONSSA confirmed that plant-based imports from Germany for animal feed had been "suspended" until Germany is declared free of foot and mouth again or certifies local regions that are free of the disease...
Muyuan Group Sells 71.6 Million Pigs in FY24
Muyuan Group, a large scale Chinese livestock producer, has released its live hog sales data for December 2024, the fourth quarter, and the full fiscal year.
In December 2024, the company sold a total of 8.6 million pigs, including 8.2 million commercial pigs, 360,000 piglets, and 31,000 breeding pigs. These sales generated revenue of CNY 15.4 billion (approximately USD 2.1 billion). Among the total sales, 2.2 million pigs were sold to Muyuan’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Muyuan Meat Co., Ltd., and its subsidiaries.
The average sales price of commercial...
ANALYSIS: Rising Hog Slaughter and Market Supply
As of yesterday's close, the year-to-date total hog slaughter reached 82,805,400 head, marking a 1.2% increase compared to this same period last year, which stood at 81,790,000 head, according to the USDA’s Federally Inspected Hog Slaughter figures.
The data indicates that 2024 has seen higher weekly hog slaughter numbers, particularly at the beginning of the year due to winter weather disruptions that backlogged hogs, and from June to August, surpassing levels from the past two years as well as the three-year average...
Global IT Outage Reaches U.S. Meat Processing Sector
Early Friday, a significant IT outage caused global disruptions across sectors including airlines, banks, and healthcare services.
Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike identified the issue as a "defect found in a single content update for Windows" and confirmed that it wasn't a security incident or cyberattack. A fix has been deployed, said CrowdStrike.
The U.S. meat processing sector may also be affected, with one pork plant reportedly experiencing computer issues that could halt operations. Processing plants use computers for critical tasks including inventory management and equipment operations...
Kraig Westerbeek Named President, Smithfield Hog Production
Smithfield Foods has named Kraig Westerbeek as president of its hog production operations effective Feb. 29, reporting to President and Chief Executive Officer Shane Smith.
“Kraig has been an extremely valuable asset to Smithfield Foods throughout his career,” said Shane Smith, chief executive officer for Smithfield. “His extensive experience in our hog production division has helped keep Smithfield on the forefront of our industry, and I look forward to his continued leadership.”
Westerbeek brings more than 30 years of industry experience to his new role...
CDFA Issues New Proposition 12 Guidance Document on Certificates
The California Department of Agriculture's (CDFA) Animal Care Program has issued a new guidance document to aid stakeholders in distinguishing between the various certificates issued for Proposition 12 compliance.
Proposition 12 (2018) went fully into effect on January 1, 2024. The law prohibits the sale of shell eggs, liquid eggs, whole pork meat, or whole veal meat in California from animals that fail to comply with specific standards for freedom of movement, cage-free design, and specified minimum floor space.
The Supreme Court upheld Proposition 12...
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