Philippe Mallétroit – Director for France, Genesus

Pork market : very strong Chinese demand

French production, of which one third of this production is exported,  benefited from China’s massive imports both in terms of volume and value, especially in the last quarter.

Since mid-March, we have seen a steady rise in pork price  reaching its highest level for this year at at the end of September with 1.701 € per kg (85.30¢ US/ lb) dressed carcass. Adding premiums, french producers got an average price of 1.83 € per kg (92.10¢ US/ lb) per dressed carcass

Even if since October 14th, market price has lost 1.9 cts per kg (1.681 €/kg), this has allowed the prices to remain at a level rarely seen this period of the year.

Week 45, the slaughtering in Uniporc-Ouest area (west of France area, where the main production is located) reached their highest level for 2019 with 395,894 pigs slaughtered for an average carcass weight of 96.35 kg (212.35 lbs), an increase of 0.83 kg (1.83 lbs) compare to the previous week.

Average weight evolution (carcass weight)

November’s Weaned and Feeder, 8 kg (17.63 lbs) and 25 kg (55 lbs) respectively, pig supply is still not enough.

• Price for a 8 kg piglet : 31.58 € ($ 34.96 US) per head
• Price for a 25 kg piglet: 2.06 € per kg ($ 1.03 US per lb) liveweight
  = 51.5 € ($ 57.03 US) per head

Compared with January 2019, price for Weaned piglet price increased close to 32%.

Same for culled sow, price currently at 1.285 € per kg (64.42 ¢ US per lb). Last year, November’s average price for culled sow was 0.752 € per kg (37.65 ¢ US per lb).

Presidential trip to China 

Beginning of November, french President, Emannuel Macron, accompanied by many french companies, was in China with the aim of winning new contracts.

During this trip, many contracts have been signed between France and China for an amount of $15 billion, in various fields such as aeronautics, finance, electricity and agri-food.

Concerning the agri-food sector, some 20 French companies (poultry, beef and pork) have been approved to export to China. A protocol for the export of swine semen has also been signed.

In addition, Chinese President Xi-Jinping and Emmanuel Macron made a joint declaration aiming to achieve a sanitary protocol allowing the practical application of zoning for African swine fever. Concrete results are expected next year.

Source : MPB, Uniporc-Ouest, RNM-FranceAgriMer

Get acquainted with the
Global Mega Produce

A program of recognition led by National Hog Farmer sponsored by Genesus Inc.

COFCO

COFCO is recognized as a Global Mega Producer for 2019.

Based in China, COFCO has global distribution in agriculture, grain, oil and foodstuffs, and it does business in more than 140 countries and regions around the word. Total assets were RMB 544.4 billion yuan while annual operating revenue was 470.9 billion yuan in 2018.

COFCO Meat Holding Co., Ltd got listed at HKEX in 2016, with its business involved in feed manufacturing, pig production, slaughter, meat processing and sales of fresh pork and import and sales of frozen meat products.

The company has two core brands for fresh pork – Joycome and meat products Maverick. In 2018, the company produced 2.55 million hogs, with production mainly based in the provinces of Jiangsu, Hubei, Jilin and Hebei.

In 2019, African Swine Fever hit China hard and greatly affected all producers in China. Well established companies such as COFCO are making great efforts to rebuild the Swine Industry in China.

Let’s all recognize COFCO as an industry leader and 2019 Global Mega Producer.

 ^{Li Xingyuan, (GM of Operation Analysis of Swine Division) and  Xu Jianong (GM) of COFCO Meat Holding Co., Ltd. with  Mike Van Schepdael (Vice President )and Yaping Gu (General Manager China) of Genesus Inc.}