Asia is an incredibly important market for the pork sector and there are many lucrative opportunities for meat producers.
That was the overriding message from pig experts at "Pigs 2022: The Opportunities" - a two-day conference held in Solihull this week, that attracted more than 200 delegates.
At the first day of the event held on Wednesday, speakers from the UK, Danish and US pig industries looked at the global picture for the sector. One of the key messages was that opportunities exist in the Far East and the UK pig sector must set its sights on these burgeoning markets.
Richard Brown, director of international food consultancy GIRA, highlighted the importance of China - which currently accounts for 27 per cent of worldwide pig trade - when he gave a talk on where the global pork market is heading. He also highlighted a rise in meat consumption worldwide and stressed that while the big winner is chicken, largely due to price, pork is still performing well.
Producers were also told the pig sector was less vulnerable to the effects of Brexit compared to other sectors as it's already trading with key regions that are seeing significant growth.
Vice President of the National Pork Producers Council in America, Nicholas Giordano, spoke about the expanding pig industry in the States - which currently has around 60,000 producers. He said the US is also targeting Asia - where middle class society is set to double during the next 15 years, offering significant opportunities for the pork sector.
In his address to the conference, AHDB Pork Chairman Mike Sheldon said: "A priority for us all is to understand what our competitors are doing, where they are innovating, where they are investing and what technologies they are adopting.
"This is about making sure that none of our competitors is successful in trying to eat our lunch - it's about making sure we take advantage of the latest thinking, wherever it originates.
"Having understood what is going on elsewhere, that knowledge is only useful if we act here in our industry and that action requires courage, speed and imagination."
The second day of the conference looked at how the sector can benefit from innovation in areas such as animal health and welfare, hygiene and pig buildings.
Market round-up
C&D Auction Marts Ltd sold 2061 prime hoggs in Longtown on Thursday to a top of £128 per head and 236p per kg to average 186.4p (-12.7p on the week), while 1396 prime lambs peaked at £134 and 303p to level at 256.8p (+8.6p).
A smaller show of 2097 cast sheep saw heavy ewes sell to £158 for a Texel and average £88.67 (+£6.71), while light ewes peaked at £75 for Hill Cheviots and levelled at £55.07 (+78p). Rams sold to £131 for a Texel and averaged £81.49.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel