Yes Germany trembles .....
... But not at the thought of Boris Johnson being UK Premier, not at Brexit and the threat to their car sales in the UK, nor in excitement at the thought that the summer battle of the poolside beds in Europe's hotspots maybe a bit easier if British tourist numbers drop .... not even the end of Mother Merkel's long reign as leader.
No, what's making their little hearts tremble with fear, is the continuing progress and spread of the deadly African swine fever across Asia, and into the outer reaches of Non-EU eastern Europe. Admittedly they are not the only European government to feel threatened by this deadly (for pigs, not humans) pathogen.
As discussed in an earlier posting, several major pork producers in the EU and elsewhere have taken measures, most noticeably the Danish government is now building a wall to prevent the disease entering their country via wild boar. But in some respects these measure are too late .... the land of the sausage munchers has had warnings that the sharp drop in Chinese pork production has the potential to create possible shortages at home, with big price rises being passed on to the country's sausage connoisseurs.
The warnings have come from Germany's Federal Meat Industry Association (BVDF) which has sounded a "schnitzel alert" that with half of China's pig population slaughtered and similar problems across Asia, it has triggered a bidding war among meat importers worldwide. China itself is officially buying up vast amounts of pork, and pork futures, to make up its domestic shortfall (with the approach of the Lunar New Year - aka Chinese New Year on Saturday, 25th January 2020 on its mind), even though its released more of its pork bank to stabilise prices in China.
Germany, doesn't have such a national pork reserve (unlike for example the USA), so even though pork prices have remained stable so far because of highly-competitive market conditions, they are set to rise and "Sausage will definitely be more expensive" according to the BVDF .... a fact that has caused consternation in a country that traditionally eats and exports vast numbers of pork products.
Just as example of how many pigs are produced for pork products in Europe, in 2017, Fifty million pigs were slaughtered in Spain alone, this was 3.5m more pigs than the whole Spanish human population (many are piglets, so there are in fact 16m less pigs alive in Spain than humans at any given time).
However throughout the European Union the rapid growth of pig farming may even lead to there being more porkers than people Denmark already has more pigs than humans (5.7m humans v 12.3m pigs), while the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium all have large pig populations that are rapidly catching up with human population figures.
Any reduction in the pig numbers across Europe could have large repercussions, with prices rising ... however it would help the environment as each pig requires some 15 litres (3.3 gallons) of water a day, less groundwater contamination with animal waste nitrates, and less greenhouse gas emissions.
So far the UK has been largely immune from these concerns, but for how long, if bacon and sausage prices rise? Better stock up on bacon for the Christmas holidays, before the price rises cause a run on pork ....
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| Germans Love A Sausage ... But At What Price?. |
... But not at the thought of Boris Johnson being UK Premier, not at Brexit and the threat to their car sales in the UK, nor in excitement at the thought that the summer battle of the poolside beds in Europe's hotspots maybe a bit easier if British tourist numbers drop .... not even the end of Mother Merkel's long reign as leader.
No, what's making their little hearts tremble with fear, is the continuing progress and spread of the deadly African swine fever across Asia, and into the outer reaches of Non-EU eastern Europe. Admittedly they are not the only European government to feel threatened by this deadly (for pigs, not humans) pathogen.
As discussed in an earlier posting, several major pork producers in the EU and elsewhere have taken measures, most noticeably the Danish government is now building a wall to prevent the disease entering their country via wild boar. But in some respects these measure are too late .... the land of the sausage munchers has had warnings that the sharp drop in Chinese pork production has the potential to create possible shortages at home, with big price rises being passed on to the country's sausage connoisseurs.
The warnings have come from Germany's Federal Meat Industry Association (BVDF) which has sounded a "schnitzel alert" that with half of China's pig population slaughtered and similar problems across Asia, it has triggered a bidding war among meat importers worldwide. China itself is officially buying up vast amounts of pork, and pork futures, to make up its domestic shortfall (with the approach of the Lunar New Year - aka Chinese New Year on Saturday, 25th January 2020 on its mind), even though its released more of its pork bank to stabilise prices in China.
Germany, doesn't have such a national pork reserve (unlike for example the USA), so even though pork prices have remained stable so far because of highly-competitive market conditions, they are set to rise and "Sausage will definitely be more expensive" according to the BVDF .... a fact that has caused consternation in a country that traditionally eats and exports vast numbers of pork products.
Just as example of how many pigs are produced for pork products in Europe, in 2017, Fifty million pigs were slaughtered in Spain alone, this was 3.5m more pigs than the whole Spanish human population (many are piglets, so there are in fact 16m less pigs alive in Spain than humans at any given time).
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| China Produces Big Pig Numbers ... But They Are Not The Only Ones |
However throughout the European Union the rapid growth of pig farming may even lead to there being more porkers than people Denmark already has more pigs than humans (5.7m humans v 12.3m pigs), while the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium all have large pig populations that are rapidly catching up with human population figures.
Any reduction in the pig numbers across Europe could have large repercussions, with prices rising ... however it would help the environment as each pig requires some 15 litres (3.3 gallons) of water a day, less groundwater contamination with animal waste nitrates, and less greenhouse gas emissions.
So far the UK has been largely immune from these concerns, but for how long, if bacon and sausage prices rise? Better stock up on bacon for the Christmas holidays, before the price rises cause a run on pork ....
There some to be a number of diseases in animals that we can't control. Elephant herpes, Foot and mouth, Swine fever and a number of others.
ReplyDeleteYou would think that as we depend on many of the animals affected we would try harder to find cures.
I'm sure someone is trying, but as many of these animals are in the food chain there may be issues about drugs being passed to humans. I have often wondered if the Americans practise of feeding animals growth hormones has an relationship to obesity in that country. Thanks for the comment.
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