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EU hog farmers benefit from increased demand from China

China is importing more pork from the European Union, and it seems to be mutually beneficial on both sides of the world.  European hog farmers have seen a 10 percent price slide since Russia banned imports to retaliate against EU sanctions for Russia’s Ukraine involvement.  Meanwhile China needs pork.  Its hog herd has shrunk since the government adopted regulations on hog farms.  The price of pork in China jumped in response to hog farms closing because of stricter rules on waste.

The USDA estimates China’s herd at 420 million, down about 46 million since 2014.  The agency’s Foreign Ag Service says China’s pork imports will rise 26 percent this year to 1.3 million metric tons after a 35 percent jump in 2015.

Bloomberg quotes an official with Dutch feed provider Cefetra BV saying China prefers E-U hogs because they’re not given as much growth promoting medications as hogs in the U.S.

“China bans the use of ractopamine in pork production, and of course that’s true in the EU as well, so all of the pork produced in the EU is free of ractopamine residues,” said Thad Lively, senior vice president for trade access at the U.S. Meat Export Federation, in an interview with Brownfield Ag News Tuesday.  “Ractopamine is permitted and completely legal and safe here in the United States, so pork exported from the United States has to be from hogs that were not fed ractopamine.”

AUDIO: Thad Lively (9 min. MP3)