Spain, world pork energy in 11 graphs: a sector at risk from African swine fever | Economy | EUROtoday

The Spanish pig sector is the jewel within the crown of nationwide livestock farming and a driver of agri-food. Its development has been exponential in latest a long time each in manufacturing quantity and exports, turning Spain right into a world energy. With greater than 33 million animals, 54 million animals slaughtered in 2024 and exports of virtually 8.8 billion euros, it’s within the prime 4 of nations with essentially the most pigs on the earth, solely behind the enormous Chinese market (434 million pig heads), the United States (75 million) and Brazil (42 million). In Europe it has no rival. It managed to overhaul Germany in 2015, whose pork sector went into free fall after the arrival of African swine fever (ASF) to its farms: a virus that’s not transmitted to folks, however is deadly for animals and that the German authorities haven’t but managed to eradicate. The similar risk now hangs over Spain.

On November 28, an ASF outbreak was detected in wild boars within the Collserola park (Barcelona). Although no constructive outbreak has been present in neighboring livestock farms, the market has already felt the blow and the sector is holding its breath because the outbreak evolves. “We are asking that every effort be made. If the virus escapes us, we are going to have a very big problem,” Miguel Ángel Higuera, director of Anprogapor, the National Association of Pork Producers, sums up with concern.

The information is a wonderful reflection of the worry that now dominates the sector. European pigs have been affected in latest a long time by completely different swine fever epidemics (African and classical). Thus, because the 90s, Germany itself has misplaced 43% of the pig heads it had in 1987. Poland and Romania have had an identical evolution. Other Europeans, reminiscent of Italy, have maintained their manufacturing regardless of the outbreak that started in April 2022 within the north of the nation. In complete, there are 13 European nations with energetic ASF outbreaks, to which is now added Spain, which had been freed from the virus for greater than three a long time.

Spanish pigs started to take off strongly within the 2000s, as soon as ASF and the next outbreaks of classical plague had been eradicated. “We tested positive for African swine fever in 1965 and the sector was plagued throughout the entire period of livestock development. We could not export and we needed to import because we were in deficit,” particulars Higuera. ASF was eradicated in Spain in 1995 and the sector, which was underdeveloped, took the leap. “We had everything we needed to grow: a lot of cereal land for raw materials and very high-value products. In 2000, a royal decree was published that established the conditions that farms had to meet and, without the virus, we were finally able to open up to the world.”

In Spain, many of the trade is concentrated within the northeast. According to information from the Ministry of Agriculture, nearly half of the animals dwell in Huesca, Lleida, Zaragoza, Girona and Barcelona. Other provinces that stand out are the leaders of the Iberian pig, reminiscent of Badajoz or Salamanca. With 4 protected designations of origin, Iberian pigs characterize 11% of the full census, a market that has been maintained within the final 20 years. Although its weight is small within the complete, it really works very effectively to open the doorways of latest markets and provides a picture of excellence. “Its importance, therefore, is not measured only in tons, but in reputation, value and capacity to generate demand for all Spanish pork,” exemplifies Giuseppe Aloisio, basic director of the National Association of Meat Industries of Spain (ANICE), who highlights that the repute of your complete sector overseas can also be as a result of its requirements of “biosafety, traceability and health control.”

This success story can also be influenced by the truth that robust opponents reminiscent of Poland or Germany collapsed as a result of ASF and left room for a sector that was already rising strongly in Spain. Jaume Bernis, farmer and head of pigs at COAG (Coordinator of Farmers and Livestock Organizations), factors to a different differentiating factor that has allowed the overtaking of Spain: its integration mannequin. “We free professionals lost oxygen in the face of crises and that has led many to integrate,” he explains. This mannequin reduces the dangers for farmers, because the homeowners of the pigs and feed are massive firms (reminiscent of Grupo Fuertes, El Pozo, Piensos Costa), which additionally present technical and well being assist, and which have extra muscle to face up to excessive occasions and volatility within the uncooked supplies markets. The ranchers, on this equation, are in control of elevating the animals and managing the farms below the umbrella of the integrators.

“If 15 years ago pork production was divided into 50% integrators and the rest was distributed between cooperatives and independents, now 80% or more is concentrated in integrators. This model has caused the pig herd to grow and we are the only country in the EU where it continued to advance,” explains Bernis. All of this has additionally allowed farms to speculate closely in animal welfare and biosecurity, turning Spain right into a benchmark and giving it the important thing to open the door additionally to these markets which might be extra strict relating to imports.

“The sector has many control measures both at the time of production and processing. That gives us a seal of quality. The risk is that now, with the ASF outbreak, they will no longer see us as good as before,” says Pedro Matarranz, rancher and head of pork on the Union of Small Farmers (UPA). A worry that has already develop into palpable at an financial and business stage. The value of pork on the Mercolleida market, a state reference, has amassed a drop of 20 cents in a single week, a drop that has not been seen because the entry into the euro. At the identical time, some 20 nations, together with necessary markets for the sector, reminiscent of Japan and Mexico, have closed their borders to Spanish imports as a result of they don’t settle for any merchandise from nations with energetic outbreaks of African swine fever.

A sector in the direction of the skin

Spain is the main European pork exporter, with a presence in additional than 100 nations. “It is a key sector for the Spanish trade balance, a position that has been achieved thanks to high production standards, the commitment to sustainability and modernization, diversification to many foreign markets and trust and credibility both at the product level and in health and technical requirements,” lists Daniel de Miguel, worldwide director of the interprofessional Interporc, which brings collectively your complete worth chain of the sector.

The bulk of the 8.8 billion that the sector exported final yr (5 billion) ended up in different European nations. In quantity, the group market accounts for greater than half of gross sales overseas, with 53% of the full. 20% goes to China, a very powerful market outdoors the group bloc: it buys 521,000 tons per yr, and in 2023 its imports registered a file worth of virtually 1.2 billion euros.

The Asian big has a double potential: on the one hand, an enormous inhabitants, and on the opposite, it calls for components of the animal which might be much less valued right here, reminiscent of offal. In reality, inside the unhealthy information of the return of the virus, the excellent news is that gross sales to China are presently assured. Coincidence or destiny, about three weeks earlier than the outbreak, Beijing and Madrid signed an settlement that permits regionalization, below which Spain can proceed exporting pork to China, aside from merchandise from the world closest to the contagion, on this case the province of Barcelona.

Other markets have signed comparable protocols —China is the one one which makes use of the province as an exclusion zone; In different instances, solely farms included in a 20-kilometer radius across the zero contagion zone are vetoed—however just some have confirmed that they are going to apply it. This is the case, along with China, the United Kingdom and Singapore. The Philippines, though it has an settlement of this kind, has simply introduced that it’ll elevate a blockade on Spanish pork exports.

Spain, nice client

Spain is the second nation on the earth by way of pork consumption per capita, with 56 kilos of meat per individual per yr (simply over a kilo per week), based on 2022 information from Our World in Data. Only Croatians surpass it, who weigh round 60 kilos a yr.

The determine is rising in Spain, since within the final decade consumption has elevated by 16% and is effectively above common consumption, which stays secure in Europe and the world.

“Spain is a leader due to structural, not circumstantial, merits. We have one of the most robust biosafety systems in Europe, a highly prepared industry and an integrated chain capable of reacting quickly,” insists Aloisio. Is there a danger that you’ll lose your place because of the virus? “Leadership is not lost due to a health episode,” he says.