Rabobank Expected Losses In China's Pig Herd May be at 50%

From AgWeb:

All eyes are on the protein market and what’s happening in China with African swine fever (ASF). New cases of the deadly virus are continuing to spread through China and eastern Europe this week, a sign that this disease is still raging.

A new report by Rabobank indicates that expected losses in the world’s largest hog herd may be up to 50% by the end of the year.

“Half of the world’s pigs are in China and half of those are now eliminated, we think. Roughly a quarter of the world’s pigs have now perished,” Rabobank senior protein analyst Christine McCracken told Clinton Griffiths Tuesday on AgriTalk. “That is a huge loss. It will leave the world quite obviously short of protein. It’s something that should be a big factor as we move into 2020.”

McCracken said she has never seen anything like this in the protein industry and doesn’t expect to ever see anything like this again. 

“It hasn’t stopped. It’s been a year this week,” she said. “I think a lot of people thought of it as a one and done. It hit and then we've moved on. But in fact, we continue to see huge outbreaks and now in more pig-dense regions, which is a concern because they have not been able to keep it out, even in areas with tighter biosecurity.”

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