A recent report states that due to an on-going spread of porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDv) in the Americas and Asia will have a significant impact on our pork supplies this summer and in the New Year.
It’s said that the PEDv virus is the driving force behind the rising of pork prices; mainly in the US prices are now at a record high. Due to the outbreak of the virus in US, Mexico, Japan and South Korea its said that global production of pork in 2014 will be significantly lower compared to 2013.
The report highlights that producers have not been required to report PEDv cases to the Department of Agriculture, making the impact on production unclear. The impact of PEDv in Asia, especially in Japan and South Korea, is sizable, but difficult to estimate as the spread of the disease is not known. In Russia, prices have spiked since its ban on EU pork imports, following the discovery of ASF in wild boars in Poland and Lithuania.
It says the ban means a loss of 1.3 million tonnes of pork imports, about one third of Russia’s total import volume in 2013. This has resulted in short supply and higher prices in Russia, but with North America expected to feel the impact of PEDv for the remainder of 2014, Russia will have few alternatives to fill the void left by the EU.