Pork Industry's Challenges Aired in Bonn

More than 300 delegates from around the world attended the 6th World Pork Conference sponsored by the International Meat Secretariat in Bonn, Germany last week, including Chris Harris, editor-in-chief of ThePigSite.

The two-day conference was set to discuss aspects of the sustainability of the industry with topics including food safety, feeding the world, climate protection and animal welfare issues, he reported.

The conference organisers – the German Meat Industry Association and the marketing organisation, German Meat – said the event took place against a backdrop of a growing demand for pork. By 2020, demand is expected to increase by 20 per cent to 127 million tonnes, with the greatest growth coming from emerging and developing countries. Their share is expected to rise by 67 per cent in terms of production and 69 per cent in terms of consumption.

Paul Brand, chairman of the board of the German Meat Industry Association, VDF, said: "The on-going globalisation of the meat trade means that we need to have a cross-border exchange on these topics. This is why I am particularly happy that this conference attracted so many visitors to Bonn."

Dr Heike Harstick, VDF Managing Director, said: "By hosting the World Pork Conference, the German meat industry created a platform for the most urgent issues confronting the international pork industry."

President of the International Meat Secretariat, Arturo Llavallol, said that there were three major issues facing pig meat producers and processors – the global economic downturn, the failure of the World Trade Organisation to reach an international trade agreement and sustainability of production.

Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Peter Bleser, said that the pig meat industry in Germany is enjoying more and more success and was worth €5.6 billion with a domestic consumption of 54kg per head. Slaughter figures in the country are rising - up from 43 million head in 2000 to 58 million in 2010, an increase of 35 per cent in a decade.

Also discussed in Bonn were concerns raised over the forthcoming introduction of loose housing systems for sows in the EU.

Dr Andrea Gavinelli, the head of the Unit of Animal Welfare at the directorate General for Health and Consumers at the European Commission, said that data is being collected to ensure the smoothest possible transition across the EU to loose housing in 2013.

"We are not going to wait until 31 December next year," he told the conference. "We are looking at the data for each member state and we will have the statistics next year and we should then be able to see the appropriate action to take."

Dr Gavinelli also told the conference that the European Commission is working towards an agreement for a voluntary end to surgical castration of piglets by 2018. He said that from 1 January next year, castration will only be allowed with anaesthetic and analgesics. He added, however: "Castration will not be banned. You cannot change the market trend."

There is little that Russia can do to stop the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the country. This was the stark message from the head of the Russian Veterinary Service, Rosselkhoznador, Sergey Dankvert, to the World Pork Congress.

"We are extremely disturbed about the outbreak of African Swine Fever in Georgia and its spread to other countries," he said.

He told the congress that ASF is present in the Northern Caucasus and "there is an immediate risk of it spreading further".

Earlier in the conference, Dr Alejandro Thiermann of the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE), warned that the spread of the disease could get out of control and he said he was concerned that it could spread to the wild boar herd in central Europe.