African swine fever to impact 2014 pig prices
The Russian authorities recently closed their borders to pigmeat products from the EU, after ASF was found in two wild boars towards the end of January.
The disease has been affecting farms in Belarus and Russia in recent years, said Iain Macdonald, economics analyst for Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), who labelled the latest discovery as "a significant event" impacting the EU pigmeat trade this year.
Macdonald said: "With the Russian market accounting for around a quarter of EU exports in 2013, this is likely to have had a significant downwards demand impact on the EU pigmeat market in recent weeks."
Clean pig producer prices have fallen in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden since the ban was imposed – a likely reflection of the higher level of supply remaining on the EU market, said Macdonald.
After seeing price surges last summer, the average EU producer price for a grade E pig has fallen sharply from an average of £1.67/kg deadweight at the end of August to £1.34/kg in early February, he added.
Last month Global Meat News reported that Russia had developed the first vaccine against ASF, with the first trials deemed a success and plans to introduce the vaccine from 2016.
