| Germany's first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in almost four decades is another blow for the country's struggling pork sector. Ever sin |
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| Germany's first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in almost four decades is another blow for the country's struggling pork sector. Ever since a case was registered Jan. 10, countries have been racing to protect their own herds from the disease by imposing trade restrictions on German supplies. The UK, its top-export destination outside the EU, banned pork shipments — as did South Korea and Mexico. That's cost Europe's largest economy at least €1 billion ($1.05 billion) in lost sales, farm cooperatives group DRV estimated last week.
It's not the first animal disease that has upended trade and business in recent years. An outbreak of African swine fever that began in 2020 led to a swathe of bans on German products, most notably from the world's top pork consumer China.
And livestock health is not the only challenge. Higher feed and energy costs, spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, have added pressure. Germany's industry has been shrinking so swiftly, with pig herds and slaughter rates dwindling, that Spain stole its crown as Europe's top pork exporter.
 Underlying it all is weaker demand at home. More Germans have been shunning sausages and other meats due to health and animal welfare concerns, which has made the sector even more reliant on exports in recent years. And while a better European economic outlook for 2025 may help domestic pork consumption pick up, "as with trade, the actions of the second Trump administration will have a major influence on the macro-economic environment in Europe," Rabobank analysts wrote in a note. Another headache for the industry: China is probing whether pork from the European Union has been dumped in its market. If that results in tariffs or other restrictions, it could lead to more EU products competing with Germany on their home turf. —Celia Bergin in London | |
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| Desert chickens | One of the hottest, driest places on Earth has almost doubled poultry production in the past decade as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pushes for food self-sufficiency. Feeding people is a linchpin of his Vision 2030 aimed at diversifying the economy away from oil. The petrostate is spending billions of dollars to bolster its poultry business. At a rate of about 6% a year, Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest-growing producers in the world, according to consultant Gira. The kingdom imports about 80% of what it eats, triggering worries about shortages in a time of rising geopolitical tensions, contagious animal diseases and stressed supply chains (See full story here). | |
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- Brooke Rollins, Donald Trump's nominee for agriculture secretary, supports the president's plan of "a mass deportation at a scale that matters," a move that could hurt US farmers who are heavily reliant on foreign labor.
- Georgia officials suspended the sale of poultry in the state after confirming a positive case of bird flu in a commercial operation, threatening one of the state's prime industries.
- Brazil's government is weighing measures such as providing reduced-cost food products through a network of stores in an attempt to combat inflation and boost President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's popularity.
- After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Oreo cookies maker Mondelez joined a number of international companies in committing to downsize its presence in Russia. It has since walked those pledges back, leading some shareholders to renew calls for increased transparency.
- Japan plans to release some of its rice stockpiles reserved for emergency use in response to record domestic prices for the grain.
- Officials in South Africa, the world's biggest exporter of citrus after Spain, discovered bud rot in commercial papaya orchards in two provinces and warned farmers to exercise caution when moving plants to stop the spread.
- West Africa's cocoa farms are being buffeted by the harshest Harmattan season in six years, hurting production at a time of tight global supplies and record-high prices.
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On the Bloomberg Terminal | |
- US retail egg prices reached a two-year high in December and may remain elevated through the first half amid concerns of a wider spread of the avian flu, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
- Chinese customs authorities suspended soybean shipments from some exporters in top producer Brazil, a move that comes just as the Asian nation seeks to curb food imports, Bloomberg News reports.
- Run SPLC after an equity ticker on Bloomberg to show critical data about a company's suppliers, customers and peers.
- Use the AHOY function to track global commodities trade flows.
- See DSET CHOKE for a dataset to monitor shipping chokepoints.
- For freight dashboards, see BI RAIL, BI TRCK and BI SHIP and BI 3PLS
- Click HERE for automated stories about supply chains.
- On the Bloomberg Terminal, type NH FWV for FreightWaves content.
- See BNEF for BloombergNEF's analysis of clean energy, advanced transport, digital industry, innovative materials, and commodities.
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