Liveweight lamb prices firmed slightly during the latest week, although recorded only a little movement.

During the week ending 25 August the GB liveweight NSL SQQ gained 0.56p to stand at 238.67p/kg. Throughputs for the week increased 3%, to 114,000 head.

The GB deadweight NSL SQQ gained 14.8p in the week ended 21 August, to 530.6p/kg. Estimated kill for the week stood at 234,600 head a rise on the week but significantly below year earlier levels.

 

By Rebecca Wright / AHDB

AHDB Pork’s weekly pig prices, slaughter data and commentary for Great Britain

Thousands of perfectly healthy pigs will end up being destroyed and wasted unless the Government takes urgent action to alleviate crippling staff shortages, NPA chief executive Zoe Davies has warned.

Chief executive Zoe Davies said that with an estimated 70,000 pigs backing up on farms, growing at a rate of 15,000 a week, and that if the Government fails to act, we are likely to see a significant contraction of the UK pig sector.

The NPA is one of the food and farming organisations behind the Grant Thornton report, which, published yesterday called for Ministers to introduce a 12-month COVID-19 Recovery Visa.

The NPA has helped to generate huge coverage of the plight facing the pig sector as a  result of the labour shortages that are affecting the entire food chain.

Dr Davies said: “There are currently 70,000 pigs backed upon farm, rising by 15,000 a week due to pork processors permanently reducing throughput as a result of labour shortages in plants, especially butchers, and there is no end in sight.

“We are desperately seeking support from the Government, particularly the Home Office, to facilitate access to these people now. For the second time in under a year the pig sector is facing some really tough choices, which we really shouldn’t have to be taking as demand for British pork is still strong.

“If Government doesn’t take action, perfectly healthy pigs will end up being destroyed and wasted.

 

by Alistair Driver / Pig World

The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) is calling on the Home Office and UK Visas & Immigration to make meat processors eligible for a Skilled Worker visa.

Tony Goodger, a spokesperson for AIMS, said that at present the jobs of butcher, slaughterman and butchery managerial roles meet the RQF3 skills threshold for the Skilled Worker route so are eligible to be sponsored for a Skilled Worker visa, but that meat processors do not meet the threshold.

“We have seen correspondence to one of our members from the Minister for Future Borders and Immigration, Kevin Foster MP, in which he states that meat processors do not meet the RQF3 threshold so are not eligible to be sponsored for a Skilled Worker visa,” said Mr Goodger.

“We have written to our constituency MP, Rt Hon Rishi Sunak asking that he makes representation to the Home Office and UK Visas & Immigration to correct this anomaly and have the role of meat processor added to the related job titles list for SOC 5431, butchers thereby making them eligible for Skilled Worker visas”

 

 

by Iain Hoey / Pig World

Prices for New Zealand beef remain strong in exports markets despite the turbulence in the global beef trade, with producers in a good position ahead of spring, a new report says.

Restrictions on beef exports from Argentina and ongoing disruption from Covid-19 were creating turbulent conditions in the global beef trade but farm gate prices for New Zealand beef had remained elevated over the last three months, RaboResearch analyst Genevieve Steven​ said.

Rabobank’s quarterly report on the global beef trade showed this was due to demand from China, as well as lower export volumes from Australia.

“Pricing across both islands is tracking well ahead of last year and currently sits 10 per cent above the five-year average,” Steven​ said.

Exports for the first half of the year were up 3 per cent on last year’s volumes, despite less beef going to the United States and Canada. Export volumes of beef had dropped by 26 per cent and 56 per cent respectively in those markets, as exports to China had risen strongly, up 26 per cent, compared to the first half of last year.

“Although volumes were higher, export earnings for the first half of the year were back by 5 per cent as a result of a stronger New Zealand dollar and greater volume going to lower-value markets.”

But beef pricing was expected to remain strong through to November, she said.

“We anticipate New Zealand prices will be held up by continued strong demand from the US and China.”

 

by Bonnie Flaws / stuff.co.nz

A bitter family row between the chairman of WH Group Ltd. and his son over succession and management issues has wiped out more than US$2 billion of market value in the world’s largest pork processor. 

Shares of WH Group in Hong Kong have plunged 17 percent in two days to the lowest in almost three years after an article purportedly written by Wan Hongjian, the 52-year-old son of the company’s founder and top shareholder Wan Long, which accused his father of financial misconduct. Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development Co., its mainland-listed unit, also slumped.

The article, posted Tuesday on the WeChat account of “New Meat Industry,” alleged that Wan senior failed to disclose US$200 million in taxable income, which WH Group has denied. The report came days after the 80-year-old Wan stepped down as chief executive, handing over to chief financial officer Guo Lijun. The group owns U.S. pork supplier Smithfield Foods Inc., which it acquired in 2013.

The accusations are “untrue and misleading,” WH Group said in a statement Wednesday. The company added that it reserves the right to take legal action against the younger Wan or any other persons responsible for the allegations.

The explanation given by meat processor JBS for paying an $11m ransomware demand was “not good enough” and “unconvincing”, the former CEO of the UK’s National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) has said.

The world’s largest beef supplier was targeted in May with system-locking malware operated by Russian-speaking cybercrime group REvil.

In its statement justifying the ransomware payment at the time, JBS said its systems were already operational and it did not believe any data had been stolen.

JBS said the reason it made the payment was to prevent potential future harm to customers and because there was no guarantee the hackers wouldn’t strike again.

“To me that’s not good enough,” Ciaran Martin told Verdict during a wide-ranging interview. “Let’s take the company’s explanation at face value. They were operating fine; they weren’t at risk of extortion, so they paid $11m as some sort of insurance policy.

“What did REvil do next month? They hacked the world – Swedish Co-Ops, New Zealand schools.”

Up to 1,500 businesses worldwide were affected during a cyberattack against IT vendor Kaseya – including the payment systems at Swedish Co-Ops supermarkets and the IT networks of schools in New Zealand.

 

 

By Robert Scammell / Verdict

Gower Salt Marsh Lamb has today (Wednesday 11 August 2021) officially joined the club of UK’s most iconic products, becoming the first new food to receive protected status after the end of the Transition Period with the EU.

The new, independent Geographical Indication (GI) schemes were launched after the end of the transition period and are designed to ensure that popular and traditional products from across the country can obtain special status to mark out their authenticity and origin. This means that shoppers can buy their favourite food and drink with confidence, and producers whose foods are granted GI status benefit from intellectual property protection, so that others cannot imitate them.

With the registration now complete, the meat produced from lambs born and reared on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales has gained full protection and recognition as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). The protection has been given as Gower Salt Marsh Lamb producers were able to demonstrate their meat’s characteristics are essentially and exclusively due to its particular area of production.

Food Minister Victoria Prentis said:

Our new GI schemes guarantee quality and excellence for food lovers at home and around the world.

I am really pleased to see Gower Salt Marsh Lamb gain protected status, and I can think of no better product to kick start our new scheme with.

We want people, at home and abroad, to be lining up to buy British. I would encourage producers from all around the UK to apply to the scheme, so that we can celebrate and protect more of our excellent local produce, and ensure it is given the recognition that it deserves.

Produced using knowledge and skills dating back to medieval times, Gower Salt Marsh Lamb comes from lamb born, reared and slaughtered in the Gower area of South Wales. The meat gains its unique characteristics from specific vegetation and environment of the salt marshes on the north Gower coastline, where the lambs graze over long distances for more than half of their lifetime. It is a seasonal product, available from June until the end of December.

The Gower salt marshes offer unique environment to lambs, where they can graze over the vast flat expanses. Historically, these north Gower salt marshes have supported thousands of sheep and are currently grazed by 3500 lambs per year.

 

Gov.uk

Prime cattle prices rose across the board in the latest reporting week, despite an increase in throughputs compared with last week.

In the week ending 31 July, the GB all-prime average deadweight cattle price rose by 1.0p to average 405.1p/kg.

This is up 38.6 pence on the price for the same week a year ago, according to AHDB’s analysis.

Throughput of prime heifers, steers and young bulls at British abattoirs was estimated to be 32,100 head for the week.

This was 6% higher than the week before, but still down on the same week last year (-2%).

Chris Gooderham, AHDB head of market specialists said: “Although year-to-date prime cattle kill is down on last year (-3%) we mustn’t forget how unusual 2020 was.

“2021 slaughter so far is estimated at 989k head. This is slightly above the levels recorded in each of the years from 2016 to 2019.

“[It] is, therefore, also above the 5 year average, albeit by only 0.3%.”

 

 

by Farming UK

(Bloomberg) — JBS SA, the world’s biggest meat producer, is expanding into the fish business by acquiring Australian salmon producer Huon Aquaculture Group for A$425 million ($314 million). 

The deal already has the backing of the majority shareholders and is set to be completed by the end of this year following approval by Australian authorities, the Sao Paulo-based company said in a statement.

Huon, based in Tasmania, is the country’s second-largest salmon farmer, producing about 35,000 tons of fish and owning about 40% of the local market, according to the statement. Mining magnate Andrew Forrest bought a 7.3% stake in the Sydney-listed company for just under A$20 million ($15 million) in June.

JBS, which plans to buy 100% of Huon, already operates in Tasmania with a beef processing unit in Longford. The company bought pork producer Rivalea in April, a deal which sparked a public inquiry from Australia’s competition watchdog on whether the meat hegemon has an outsized impact in that market.

Global fish consumption is surging faster than that of beef, chicken or pork, driven by an expanding and increasingly prosperous global population that recognizes the health benefits of eating seafood. Demand in the $400 billion fish market is so big that it’s attracting companies like Cargill Inc., which is also targeting deals to get into the fish production and processing business.

“This is a strategic move, which marks the entry of JBS in the aquaculture business,” said Chief Executive Officer Gilberto Tomazoni. “Aquaculture will be a new growth platform for our business.”