News animal disease
Fourth PED Outbreak in Canadian Alberta
An outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) was reported in the Canadian province of Alberta in January. In the meantime, 4 cases of the animal disease have already been identified in that province.
The PED virus is already since 2014 present in Canada, but was first found in the province of Alberta in January. This was previously one of the few locations where the disease had not yet been detected. However, 4 cases of PED have already been diagnosed.
About 2,5 million pigs are slaughtered in Alberta every year, making the province the third largest state for Canadian pig production. Pig production is highest in Quebec, where more than 8 million pigs are slaughtered every year. In total, approximately 21 million pigs are slaughtered in Canada every year.
Low pig prices
Canadian pig prices are currently very low. Canadian pig farmers paid $1,25 per kilo (Canadian dollars) at the beginning of March, which translates into €0,83 per kilo. The Canadian pig price was only 5 times lower than it is today in the past 3 years. Pig prices usually pick up in the first half of the calendar year, but that is not the case this year.
PED in the United States
In 2014, an outbreak of PED also occurred in the United States. That had a major impact at the time, because American pig production fell by almost 5% as a result and pig prices skyrocketed. At its peak (July 2014), the pig price was about $2,93 per kilo (US dollars).
Tim Roetman
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