Page 843 of articles about news

The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the US pharmaceutical and health care products company Wyeth by the US global pharmaceutical company Pfizer. The approval is conditional upon Pfizer's commitment to divest several types of animal health vaccines, pharmaceuticals and medicinal feed additives in the European Economic Area (EEA) or in specific Member States. The Commission had concerns that the transaction, as originally notified, would have raised competition issues in the field of animal health products on a number of national markets. In the light of the commitments offered by Pfizer, the Commission has now concluded that the proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any substantial part of it.

Due to the decreasing production and increasing demand for pig meat in Poland, Polish imports of pig meat continue to rise. .

The decision affects Ontario pork products produced before May 15 and after July 18, 2009, and means that Russia no longer has any H1N1-related restrictions on Canadian products.

The second quarter of 2009 ended with both pork production and hog and pork prices below a year ago, which strongly suggests lower product demand. Lower production and lower prices are expected to persist for the balance of this year.

The Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development has published a comparative analysis of projections for agricultural commodity markets.

In the first three months of 2009, the sales of the Bulgarian meat industry registered an increase of 15.5% at current prices, according to the latest report from SFB Capital Market JSC.

It is expected that this year the production of pig meat will decrease by a few percent both within the EU and in the US and in both areas the decrease is due to the poor economy in the pig production.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Thursday announced that $760 million from the Supplemental Appropriations Act signed by President Obama is available for approved but previously unfunded USDA direct farm ownership and operating loans throughout the country.

Argentina's government declared on Friday a nationwide animal health emergency following the discovery of the new H1N1 flu virus in at least one pig herd.

The European Union (EU) provides 70 percent of Korea's imports of belly pork. Belly pork used in samgyeopsal is a huge favorite among Koreans.

EU feed prices could skyrocket if importers follow through on plans to curtail U.S. soybean imports in the wake of a new fuss over traces of non-EU approved biotech corn that showed up in U.S. soybeans imported recently in Germany. EU Farm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel expressed support for the feed processors' concerns, but there's no indication a solution will be found any time soon.

The government issued a decree No. 427 dd. June 10, 2009 excluding pork, lard, meat and poultry products from commodities which were subject to licensing in 2009.

Taking into account the improvement of the situation on erysipelas, the Rosselkhoznadzor considers it possible to make the following changes in the initialled on 11.08.2006 veterinary certificate for slaughter pigs imported to the Russian Federation from the European Union.

The EU remains the leading trader in the world. In terms of imports it far exceeds its nearest rival, the US and is also the world’s leading exporter since 2003. In 2006 the EU had turned into a small net exporter of agricultural products. However this proved short-lived (see MAP brief June 2008), with the EU once again showing a deficit in its agricultural trade balance for 2007 and the trend has continued in 2008. This MAP examines what lies behind the evolution in the trade balance.

The purpose of this document is to provide provisional guidance to the Member States on the appropriate measures to implement under different epidemiological scenarios promoting a harmonised approach for dealing with the situation as regards: a) surveillance/monitoring for the influenza pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus in the pig Populations, b) the possible measures to be put in place if the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 enters EU pig farm(s).