China-Blue Ear disease in pigs.

CHINA-BLUE EAR DISEASE.

What will a recent report of another blue ear disease outbreak in China mean for U.S. pork producers? Nick Giordano, V.P. of International Trade Policy for the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) says it’s probably too early to know what the latest report will mean. But Giordano tells Brownfield there is one thing we do know.

"Last year (2008) we exported almost $700 million of pork to China, not quite, but almost $700 million, a huge one year increase," said Giordano. "And a lot of that, because of the reduction in supply in China, due to disease."

The advantage U.S. producers have, Giordano says, is the fact that the U.S.. remains the world’s low cost supplier of high quality pork, and Giordano says the U.S. is well positioned to take advantage of any future growth in China.

"China is probably the largest single opportunity for the U.S. pork industry," Giordano said. "While on the one hand they are the largest pork producer in the world, they’ve got a huge population and they’ve got people moving up the economic chain."

Reuters reported on February 11 that according to the Xinhua news agency, the most recent report of blue ear disease in China had killed 1,056 pigs in the northern province of Shanxi.