Page 21 of articles about costs

A new study, underwritten by the Pork Checkoff and conducted by Iowa State University, estimates that porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) continues to be a major drag on the U.S. pork industry.

The Department of Internal Trade (DIT) under the Ministry of Commerce has stopped announcing recommended pork prices after finding price fluctuations are volatile and supplies are still in shortage.

The French Competition Authority has approved the voluntary agreement between producers, processors and distributors in the swine, bovine, and agricultural sectors in order to minimize the impact of raw material price volatility, signed on May 3rd.

U.S. corn futures for December closed at $6.58 per bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on July 12, gaining 25.25 cents (4%) since June 29 and 68% from the same time in 2010.

The French Minister of Agriculture, Bruno Le Maire, met this week with representatives of producers, processors and distributors of the swine, cattle and poultry industry in order to sign a voluntary agreement between the parties with the objective of reducing the volatility of prices in the livestock sector.

As the price of pork rises, Koreans are giving up their beloved pork belly to seek alternative cuts and sources of protein.

The FAO Food Price Index has dropped for the first time after eight months of continuous price spikes. The Index averaged 230 points in March 2011, down 2.9 percent from its peak in February, but still 37 percent above March of last year.

International prices of most agricultural commodities have increased in recent months, some sharply. The FAO Food Price index has gained 34 points since the previous Food Outlook report in June, averaging 197 points in October, only 16 points short from its peak in June 2008. The upward movements of prices were connected with several factors, the most important of which were a worsening of the outlook for crops in key producing countries, which is likely to require large draw downs of stocks and result in tighter global supply and demand balances in 2010/11.

Despite improvements in daily liveweight gain and pigs finished per sow, Britain still lags behind its European competition in the production stakes. The latest figures from the BPEX publication on international cost of production show Britain produced 1643kg pig meat per sow in 2009 – the lowest of all the EU countries.

An analysis of how international pig production costs suffered from 2008 record feed grain prices has been produced by InterPig.

The Agriculture and Food Council’s recently published prognosis on pig meat prices and earnings in pig production indicates stability for the rest of current year and for next year as well. The significant fluctuations, which we have seen during the last six months, will ease off. The current expectations are stable compared to the announcement as of March 2009.