Source: Susan Kelly, MEATINGPLACE, 5/31/19


The first outbreak of African swine fever in North Korea has been confirmed. The country’s ministry of agriculture reported the May 23 outbreak in Chagang-Do province resulted in the death of 77 pigs from the disease, with another 22 pigs culled, according to theWorld Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

China and Southeast Asia are expected to have a massive shortfall in animal protein supply in 2019, 2020 and possibly for years to come, a new report from CoBank said. China accounts for half of the world’s pork production and consumption, the bank noted.
China has said its breeding herd is down 22% from a year ago and the overall hog herd is down 21%, though estimates of the impact of the disease in that country have ranged higher.

Feed demand is also expected to drop significantly and could be curtailed longer term as China becomes more feed-efficient during the process of rebuilding its herd, CoBank said.

Vietnam this week announced it has lost 1.7 million hogs so far to ASF, culling 500,000 pigs in just the past two weeks.

Also this week, Reuters reported that the OIE has launched a global initiative with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization aimed at controlling the disease and strengthening prevention efforts.

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