Page 5 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Industry consultation rolls out around Australia
Communications
Pork prices are still bullish
WESTERN Aus- tralian Pork Producers Association president Graeme Dent said that while current pork prices weren't the highest they had been, they were still reason- able.
and June were right to the point of being chock-a-block full.
the domestic market off the back of COVID-19.
“We are certainly get- ting up there,” Mr Dent said.
Mr Dent said while government assistance was available for ag- ricultural exports, the cost for flying product out of Perth was about twice the price than what it was from the eastern states.
“A little bit more of our product has been going into smallgoods, including ham and bacon,” Mr Dent said.
“The prices are pretty bullish but of course they have to be because you compare the price that we are getting against beef and sheep at the moment – it is still a pretty cheap meat for the consumer.”
He added that sending a product by sea freight depleted shelf-life pork, which made exporting difficult because im- porters wanted a chilled fresh product.
“Eighty-five percent of that meat is imported anyway and we don't need much of a swing for those guys to buy a bit of our product to keep us ahead.
Mr Dent said COVID-19 had an im- pact on the supply chain with state and interna- tional border restric- tions and restaurant clo- sures hitting the pork industry hard.
Despite the chal- lenges, there had been an increased demand in
“We aren't asking them to switch right over, but we are hoping they will use a bit more local product.”
“Once the restaurants started to open again, they were able to slowly clear that backlog.”
With freight disrup- tions across the world, companies that have been importing meat haven't been able to import as much meat either.
“As soon as COVID-19 came along in May bor- ders were shut, restau- rants were shut and the industry nearly fell back to where it was,” Mr Dent said.
“When you are relying on air freight and planes aren't able to fly, it is a bit of a problem.
“If 10 to 15 percent of your market is going to Singapore and that is closed and 25 percent of your product is going into the restaurant trade, which has also closed, all of a sudden you've lost 35 percent.
“And that all had to hit the freezers.
“The freezers in May
AS COVID-19 restric- tions eased around Aus- tralia, the Australian Pork Limited team seized the opportunity to get back on the road and reconnect with its producers over in- dustry priorities.
Feedback received on these changes is currently being collated to help fi- nalise the standards for im- plementation in the second half of 2021.
The roll out of the ‘Pork in Forum’ continued to build a shared vision for the pork industry, by sharing information, prioritising re- sources and enabling adop- tion of new technology for business.
Producers showed interest in receiving support to im- plement the PigPass app, which is now ready to be rolled out across Australia.
The forums were held in conjunction with state farming and pork organisa- tions joined by nearly 200 producers, vets and del- egates across South Aus- tralia, Western Australia, NSW, Victoria, Queensland and online.
APL team shared updates on the evolving global ASF situation and the implica- tions for Australia.
on proposed changes to the Australian Pork Industry Quality Assurance Pro- gram standards, generated out of the 2019 APIQ major review.
The mobile national vendor declaration system allows producers to gen- erate paperless NVDs with contactless transfer via Bluetooth to transporters and processors.
With biosecurity front of mind for the industry, the
As part of this, the team consulted with attendees
Incoming APL general manager of research and in- novation Dr Rob Smits also joined the forums to share five innovative practices designed to deliver more investment value back onto the farm.
Dr Lechelle Van Breda presented best practice guidelines for ASF preven- tion, developed with the ASF technical committee over the past two years.
The changes to the bios- ecurity module are aimed at strengthening industry’s preparedness for a biose- curity event or emergency animal disease incursion.
The app provides a faster traceability method, re- porting animal movements in real time to improve in- dustry integrity and respon- siveness.
Victorian Country Hour host Warwick Long, Australian Pork Limited chief executive officer Margo Andrae, Producer and Victorian Farmers Federation president Tim Kingma and Victorian Farmers Federation chief executive officer Jane Lovell at the ‘Pork in Forum’ in Bendigo.
auA copy of the online forum is available to APL members in the members portal at australianpork. com.au
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www.porknews.com.au
Australian Pork Newspaper, May 2021 – Page 5
by ELYSE DENMAN
These included opti- mising sow energy intakes, the case for biogas, training staff with Prohand, genetic advancements and the evi- dence behind post-cervical artificial insemination.
To find out how to adopt these strategies on your property contact rob. smits@australianpork.com.