Browse Data and Analysis

Post estimates cattle numbers in 2022 are expected to stagnate with 18 million head, including buffaloes, due to slow population growth rate, low raw milk prices, and an increasing number of cows being sent to slaughter because of high feed prices, despite government incentives.

Hong Kong continues to take random tests on imports of chilled and frozen foods and their packaging for the COVID-19 virus.

Both EU beef and pork production are forecast to decline in 2022. The lower domestic beef production is caused by a shrinking dairy herd with higher milk deliveries but a lower output of animals for slaughter.

Increased production costs, mainly in feed, electricity, and labor, and lower live cattle as well as pork and chicken meat exports are keeping Spanish animal production at current levels, ending the expansion experienced in the last years.

U.S. beef exports into the EU’s High Quality Beef (HQB) quota had a hard time in 2021 as they suffered from the repeated closures of the EU hospitality sector from COVID-19. EU imports of U.S. beef decreased substantially after the end-of-year 2020 holiday season and only gradually increased throughout 2021 again

Portuguese cattle and swine sectors are currently restructuring to increase their domestic beef and pork production to meet domestic and export market demands. The meat sector is also working to open new strategic export markets, especially in the pork market.

The number of active African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks in Romania continues to remain high. At the end of October 2021, there was a 43 percent surge in the number of outbreaks from the same time in 2020.

From January 1, 2021, through October 29, Poland’s Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) officially notified 119 African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks on hog farms and 2,278 cases among wild boars.

As of October 18, 2021, Poland will temporarily suspend veterinary inspections on consignments of food of animal origin in the border control post Kukuryki-Koroszczyn on the Polish-Belarussian border, as renovation works will commence.

The United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on December 31, 2020, and the Covid pandemic have both presented challenges and opportunities for the livestock sector.

In 2020, Spanish livestock exports continued to reach record levels mainly driven by significant demand in the Middle East for cattle and in Asian markets for pork.

In 2020 and 2021, Bulgaria made significant progress in the recovery of the national swine herd after African swine fever (ASF) hit the country in 2019.