Pig virus continues to affect global pork markets

Global pork prices have reached new highs as porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDv) reduces supply.
Producers in the EU however, were not experiencing the high prices due to Europe being the only region with enough pork available at reasonable prices. For the week ending Saturday 26 July, the GB Dapp (EU) was 160.93p/kg, a small drop of 0.75p/kg.
Hog and pork prices were particularly high in exporting countries suffering from the virus, namely the USA, Mexico, Japan and South Korea, said a report by Robobank, with farmers set to make record profits.
While lower EU prices and a good supply were increasing opportunities to export to the US and Asia, these markets could not make up for the reduced exports to Russia and eastern Europe, following president Putin’s import ban and tensions in Ukraine.
EU exports to the US and Asia increased by 101,000t between January and April, but exports to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus dropped by 241,000t.
A strong euro against the US dollar also meant higher global pork prices had a limited positive impact on export prices.
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