Francis Drouin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, said in a release 29 African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program (ASFIPP) projects across the country will receive funding.

Provincial projects include improving biosecurity measures, wild pig management activities, retrofits of existing abattoirs, regional preparation for the welfare depopulation and disposal of healthy hogs, and sector analysis, engagement and education tools, said Drouin.

The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) also received ASFIPP funding to develop an ASFMeter, a portable, low-cost tool for rapidly diagnosing ASF in the field, the organization said in a separate release.

In collaboration with McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., the CPC said “this innovative program aims to revolutionize ASF detection by providing a convenient and effective solution for on-site testing.”

CPC Chair René Roy said the AAFC/McMaster University collaboration “brings together expertise in research and technology, ensuring that the ASFMeter meets the rigorous standards required for rapid and accurate ASF detection.”

Roy said the ASFIPP funding underscores the importance of research and development in enhancing biosecurity measures within the swine industry, as well as the joint industry/government proactive approach being taken to prepare for potential challenges to ensure the sustainability of Canadian pork production.

A detection of ASF in Canada would immediately stop exports of pork products and live pigs, which could significantly impact the pork industry. The Canadian pork industry exports roughly two-thirds of its pork production and millions of live hogs per year.

In 2023, pork exports were valued at $4.7 billion, excluding the 6.7 million live swine exported throughout the year.

While it has not been found in Canada to date, as it spreads around the globe, it poses a significant risk to the health of the Canadian swine herd, the pork industry, and the Canadian economy, AAFC said.

Since 2018, ASF has spread through parts of Asia and Europe, and was detected in the Caribbean in 2021.

The $23.4 million ASFIPP was launched in 2022 and to help Canada’s pork industry prepare for the possibility of ASF entering the country.

Funding for the projects announced today must be completed by March 31, 2025.

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China customs said the move is to protect the safety of the country’s livestock industry and prevent the introduction of epidemics.

Animal and plant waste that are unloaded from ships, aircraft and other from of transportation vehicles from Bangladesh must be disposed of under the supervision of customs, it said in a statement.

Farmers in China, who raise half of the world’s pigs, have ramped up the slaughter of tens of millions of pigs since November as they struggled with high costs, low prices and an outbreak of African swine fever.

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On Aug. 3, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada announced $944,340 in funding for Manitoba’s hog farm group. Funds were provided through AAFC’s African Swine Fever Industry Preparedness Program and were slotted for three initiatives: Squeal on Pigs, increased communication with small-scale pork producers and the development of an ASF response plan, should a local case of the virus be found.

The funding “will help protect animal health and ensure the sector remains resilient and competitive internationally,” federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay said in a release, noting the economic and psychological toll that a disease like ASF would have on the industry.

“The detection of African swine fever in Canada would be catastrophic for both the Manitoba and Canadian hog sectors and would result in not only a prolonged closure of international borders to pork, but a significant financial impact to our province and country,” the Manitoba Pork Council also said in a release.

Although the disease is not a food safety threat, Canada has watched the devastating impact ASF has had in pork industries in other parts of the world. In particular, outbreaks in China starting in 2018 reportedly wiped out a third of that country’s hog herd. The disease, which has a reputation for its mortality in pigs, was later found in other Asian counties in the region.

Europe has had its own struggles with the disease, while the U.S. and Canada (still ASF-free) were dismayed when it was found in the Dominican Republic last year.

Between 2021 and July 20, 2023, the World Organization for Animal Health reported ASF in 49 countries across five global regions, accounting for 951,000 cases in domestic pigs and 28,000 detected cases in wild swine. That includes nine countries that saw the disease for the first time, and 10 countries where ASF found its way into previously unimpacted regions.

Wild swine have also been a reservoir for ASF in various nations, so there is concern on the Prairies where invasive wild pig populations are a problem.

In Manitoba, the wild swine problem has sparked pilot control programs, as well as the Squeal on Pigs campaign that encourages the public to report wild pig sightings so they can be investigated and addressed.

“African swine fever poses a tremendous risk to our province’s hog sector, and we need to do everything we can to ensure that we are prepared in the event that horrible day comes upon us,” said Manitoba Pork Council chair Rick Préjet.

“We want to commend the federal government for not only stepping up with funding to support producers and our sector, but for their continued engagement on preparatory work with our producers and our staff to ensure that we are best prepared for an outbreak.”

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The vaccines include NAVET-ASFVAC, co-developed by Navetco Central Veterinary Medicine and scientists from the United States, and AVAC ASF LIVE developed by AVAC Vietnam JSC, the government said in a statement.

The approval of the vaccines could pave the way for possible sales abroad, a major breakthrough to tackle the deadly animal disease that regularly ravages pig farms worldwide.

African swine fever has for years disrupted the $250 billion global pork market. In the worst outbreak in 2018-19, about half the domestic pig population died in China, the world’s biggest producer, causing losses estimated at over $100 billion.

The ministry of agriculture has told the companies to work out production plans for domestic sales and for exports, the government statement said.

More than 650,000 doses of the vaccines had recently been tested on hog herds in 40 provinces, with an efficacy rate of 95%, according to the government.

“The vaccines are eligible for circulation and use nationwide,” the ministry said in the statement.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack said last month there was likely to be interest in precautionary purchases in the United States, despite the country having so far been spared from the virus.

–Reporting for Reuters by Khanh Vu.

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To that end, the province is making funding available to farmers who actively breed and raise wild boar to “shift to other forms of production such as heritage breeds of swine, other livestock or crop production.”

“Our government is taking action to phase out the production of Eurasian wild boar,” provincial Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford said in a release Oct. 19.

“Preventing the spread of new invasive species such as wild pigs is another critical step to safeguard the swine industry from the ASF, and protect the broader health of our communities, economy and natural environment.”

“Farm escapes of Eurasian wild boar amplify the population of wild pigs, which have already caused widespread problems in Canada’s Prairie provinces and many American states,” the province said.

Apart from damage wild pigs are known to cause in crops and other settings, other countries’ experience has also shown wild pigs on the move pose a significant risk for potentially transmitting swine fever to commercial pork operations, the province added.

The province will now fund “detection and removal efforts” and also regulate wild pigs under the provincial Invasive Species Act.

Specifically, the province will ban the “import, possession, transport, propagation, lease, trade, buying and sale of Eurasian wild boar and their hybrids” effective Jan. 1, 2022.

To help the province’s wild boar farmers toward a “faster transition,” those who own wild boar as of Oct. 19 — and who agree to stop raising wild boar within six months — will be eligible for support.

Information on a transition program intake for wild boar producers is to be made available on the Agricorp website “in the coming weeks,” the province said.

Eligible farmers will get $200 per animal to “eliminate their herd while also transitioning to other forms of production.”

The province’s announcement also included plans for a new targeted funding intake starting Nov. 5 under the federal/provincial Canadian Agricultural Partnership for Ontario pork producers, processors and other agribusinesses.

That funding will go to support “training, education and planning” along with “supply and infrastructure investments and modifications needed to strengthen swine-related operations, support industry businesses, and protect the herds and livelihoods of Ontario pork producers.”

CAP funding will also be allocated under the Partnership for an education outreach and awareness campaign for “smallholder” farms — those that market fewer than 1,000 hogs or 50 sows per year.

That campaign will focus on “increasing small hog producers’ awareness of the risks of (swine fever) and the need for strong biosecurity and emergency preparedness measures.”

Once the CAP intake information is posted, applicants will be able to submit forms on a first-come, first-served basis until Dec. 3, and can apply for reimbursement of 50 per cent of costs, up to $40,000 per applicant.

“In the wake of growing concerns since African swine fever has been detected in the Caribbean, this funding will support new measures that protect the prosperity and resiliency of the entire sector,” federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in the province’s release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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A U.S. outbreak would likely slash U.S. pork exports and pig prices, hurting farmers and meat companies such as Tyson Foods.

African swine fever is harmless to humans but often deadly to pigs, leading to financial losses for farms. Governments also often block pork imports from countries where the disease has been found to prevent transmission.

USDA said it would commit funds from its Commodity Credit Corporation spending authority to expand and co-ordinate monitoring and surveillance for the disease, along with other efforts.

“This is unprecedented both in terms of the amount dedicated to one animal disease and of getting the funds upfront, before we have the disease in the U.S.,” said Bob Acord, a former USDA administrator who is now a consultant for the National Pork Producers Council.

African swine fever originated in Africa before spreading to Europe and Asia and has killed hundreds of millions of pigs. The disease spread rapidly in China starting three years ago and wiped out half the country’s hog herd within a year.

The Dominican Republic’s outbreak in July was the first in the Americas in nearly 40 years. It increased worries about the risk for U.S. cases, particularly after Haiti also confirmed an outbreak this month.

USDA told Reuters it has spent about US$400,000 in the Dominican Republic to help the country respond to African swine fever.

“ASF outbreaks have proven devastating in other parts of the world due to lost production and trade,” the USDA said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is increasing inspections for illegal pork on flights from Haiti and the Dominican Republic and making sure airplane garbage is properly disposed of to prevent transmission of the disease, USDA has said.

Feed imports

Canada, meanwhile, said Monday it took “immediate action to enhance its vigilance” on both the Dominican Republic and neighbouring Haiti when ASF was confirmed in the Dominican Republic in July.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in a statement Monday, said it “quickly” worked with the Canada Border Services Agency to strengthen border controls for the Caribbean region as a whole, including “enhanced” screening of travellers and mail by border services officers and detector dog teams.

Canada doesn’t import pork or pork products from either Haiti or the Dominican Republic, but CFIA said it has added them to its listing of “countries of concern” for ASF in relation to plant-based feed imports.

Any livestock feed ingredient coming to Canada from listed countries must meet “required conditions” for import, CFIA said.

CFIA also said it continues to run public awareness campaigns and outreach on ASF, working with airport authorities and airlines to provide information on the disease to international travellers.

Canada and the U.S. have also already agreed on geographic boundaries for control zones to help contain an ASF outbreak if the disease hits either country. A similar zone system was used in a 2014 outbreak of avian influenza in poultry in British Columbia.

— Tom Polansek reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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German pig prices were the same as last week at 1.42 euros (C$2.10) per kilogram slaughter weight, the VEZG said.

A third case of ASF was confirmed over the weekend in farm pigs in the eastern state of Brandenburg following the first discovery on farms last week.

Previous cases have only been found in wild animals, with 1,267 ASF infections so far in wild boar in the Brandenburg area. Brandenburg borders Poland, where the disease is widespread.

“I think the unchanged pig prices shows that the discovery of ASF on German farms was not really a gravely important event for the market,” said Tim Koch, meat analyst at German market consultancy AMI.

“The farms were in the eastern region of Brandenburg where it has already been found on a large scale in wild animals, so there have not been any significant changes to the restriction zones used to combat the disease.”

The disease was found on small farms and Brandenburg is not a large pig farming area in Germany, he added.

“Germany’s pork exports to third countries, especially China and the other main Asian buyers have been stopped anyway, with exports continuing inside the EU,” he said. “So the international trade picture has not changed but negotiations with China about ending import bans could be longer and more difficult.”

Many countries banned German pork imports in September 2020 after ASF was found in wild boars.

Germany’s domestic pork market is difficult with a lack of demand, Koch said. Restaurants and major events generating meat demand are still not really back to normal with continuing uncertainty about increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases.

— Reporting for Reuters by Michael Hogan.

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China’s 2020 pork output fell 3.3 per cent from a year earlier, to 41.13 million tonnes, after plunging 21 per cent in 2019, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

But some analysts said they had expected a much bigger fall in 2020 after African swine fever (ASF) ravaged China’s breeding stock in 2019. China’s stock had fallen by an estimated 60 per cent by mid-2019 after the disease hit China in mid-2018.

The reading is “quite high, higher than I expected. In November, we probably expected a 10-15 per cent decline,” said Pan Chenjun, senior analyst at Rabobank.

Xiao Lin, analyst at Shenzhen-based Win & Fun Investment, also said she had expected a bigger decline of between five and 10 per cent in 2020 output.

Policy support and incentives helped revive the sector by unleashing more than 200 billion yuan (C$39.3 billion) in investment.

China slaughtered 527.04 million hogs in 2020, the data showed, down 3.2 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Output in the final quarter of 2020 jumped to 13 million tonnes, according to Reuters calculations based on the data. That is up 21 per cent from the 10.74 million tonnes produced in the same quarter a year ago and higher than 8.4 million tonnes in the third quarter.

Despite the jump in output, pork prices have risen significantly from the end of November, reaching 47 yuan (C$9.23) per kg last week, almost level with a year ago.

“That’s the signal that there’s a very big shortage,” said Pan, adding that demand had not increased significantly.

The data also showed China’s pig herd rose to 406.5 million head at the end of December, from 370.39 million at the end of September.

Beef and lamb output rose slightly in 2020, by 0.8 and one per cent respectively, the data showed, while poultry output grew by 5.5 per cent.

— Dominique Patton is an agriculture and commodities correspondent for Reuters in Beijing.

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Hog futures soared last week after Germany reported its first case of African swine fever (ASF) and China and South Korea banned its pork imports. On Wednesday, five more ASF cases were confirmed in wild boars in the eastern German state of Brandenburg.

“Livestock futures ran into technically overbought territory last week, and now they’re still backpedaling,” said Karl Setzer, commodity risk analyst for AgriVisor.

Market hopes also are waning about China gobbling up U.S. pork supplies any time soon, Setzer said.

China’s pig herd increased 31.3 per cent in August compared with a year ago, while the sow herd was up 37 per cent, Chinese government officials said this week.

Part of that boom comes from 2,030 new large-scale pig farms that began production in August, with more than 11,000 large-scale farms completed since the start of the year.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) October lean hog futures settled down 0.475 cents at 65.225 cents/lb. (all figures US$). Most actively traded CME December hogs ended down 1.075 cents at 61.975 cents/lb.

The market is still waiting to see whether cash prices in the cattle market will firm this week, as about 19,000 fewer head of cattle are being offered for sale, traders said.

Boxed beef prices were under pressure on Wednesday morning, with choice cuts declining by $1.01, to $215.08/cwt, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

CME October live cattle futures settled down 0.375 cent at 106.725 cents/lb., while most actively traded December live cattle futures rose 0.375 cent to 111.95 cents/lb.

October feeder cattle ended down 1.275 cents at 142.425 cents/lb.

— P.J. Huffstutter reports on agriculture and agribusiness for Reuters from Chicago.

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Authorities in the German state of Brandenburg quarantined a 15-km area around where the boar was found to search for any more dead animals and also restricted the movement of farm animals.

South Korea, Germany’s second largest pork customer outside the European Union, announced a ban on German pork imports.

ASF is not dangerous to humans but is fatal to pigs and a massive outbreak in China, the world’s biggest pork producer, has led to hundreds of millions of pigs being culled.

Major pork importers such as China often impose bans on imports from countries where ASF has been found, even if only in wild animals.

“The attention is now on whether importing countries, especially China, impose import restrictions on German pigmeat,” said Andre Schaefer at commodity brokerage Kaackterminhandel GmbH.

“China especially is a vital customer for Germany. If import bans are imposed we could see pork prices under pressure in Germany,” he said.

German pork exports to markets including China and Japan are likely to come to a stop along with South Korea, German meat industry association VDF said.

The association said Asian importers are especially important buyers of pork products which are not popular in Europe such as feet, ears, tails and bones.

Export curbs would prevent these products being sold as food and “would have a strong influence on product flows in the pork market.”

In the first four months of 2020, Germany exported 158,000 tonnes of pork worth 424 million euros (C$658 million) to China, double the amount in the same period last year, the country’s statistics office said.

‘No reason to panic’

Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner said Berlin had been in contact overnight with China, adding that Germany does not have a formal agreement with China about the disease, “so therefore we are in permanent dialogue.”

Germany is stressing “the principle of regionality” in the case, she said. Regionality means buyers impose import restrictions only on parts of a country affected by a serious animal disease, she said.

Germany has built hundreds of kilometres of fencing along the Polish border in an attempt to stop the disease being spread by wild boar.

Berlin has been concerned ASF could enter the country after a number of cases were confirmed in recent months in wild boars in western Poland, with one only about 10 km from the frontier.

Cases have also been confirmed recently in about 10 other European countries, where wild boars are suspected of spreading the disease.

Kloeckner said she expected German pork exports to other European countries to continue.

The case is “no reason to panic,” Kloeckner said, adding that authorities were intensively assessing what measures needed to be taken to combat the disease and prevent it spreading to commercial pig farms.

The German farmers’ association DBV on Thursday called for a corridor free of wild boar to be created along Germany’s border with Poland.

— Reporting for Reuters by Thomas Escritt and Michael Hogan.

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