Plant-based meats are at a nascent stage of market development while cultured variants remain in the lab. However, meat eating – seen as a wealthy diet - stands firm.

Sales of Certified Angus Beef hit record levels for the 13^th year in a row in 2019 – rising 3.1% on year to reach 1.25 billion pounds (567,000 tonnes).

Friboi, the Brazilian beef division of JBS, has opened a new cattle processing plant in Brazil’s Centre-West region.

Prices for Brazilian beef and beef cattle have been easing back from recent highs despite expectations that 2020 will be another bumper year for exports.

European cattle prices continued to track upwards in the first week of 2020, but prices remain at comparatively low levels overall. Moreover, demand is expected to ease back in January as consumption patterns return to normal, and the supply disruptions of the Christmas / New Year period work through the system.

US meat giant Walmart has taken another step to create its own in-house beef supply chain with the opening of a new case-ready meat facility in Thomasville, Georgia.

The European pig market has been suffering a post-Christmas hangover, with heavy supplies and reduced demand combining to bring about a substantial further price correction over the past week.

Pork and poultry prices have slipped back slightly in Brazil over the past few days, as is usual at the start of the year when consumers tend to have less money in their pockets to spend.

Pork producers in South America are currently favoured by the region’s freedom from African Swine Fever (ASF) – a disease that has had devastating impacts in Europe and Asia. However, some are now worried this could be jeopardized by Venezuela’s decision to import pork from Russia – a country where ASF has been present since 2007.

USDA’s swine inspection rule is once again the subject of a lawsuit, and this time two groups are calling on the court to throw out the rule on the grounds that turning over federal inspection duties to slaughter plant employees and speeding processing lines will endanger consumer health.

Concerns are rising that African Swine Fever could soon reach Germany after authorities in Poland confirmed cases of the disease less than 30km from the border.

A spectrum of subsidised activities may have an impact on machinery suppliers, animal feed manufacturers and soybean exporters. 

The EU is stepping up efforts to guard against avian flu following recent outbreaks of a highly pathogenic form of the virus.

Pork and poultry prices have slipped back slightly in Brazil over the past few days, as is usual at the start of the year when consumers tend to have less money in their pockets to spend.

A federal district court judge has upheld the constitutionality of California’s 2004 law that phased in a ban on the production and sale of foie gras in the state.

Romania has become the latest EU country to be hit by H5N8 avian flu – the country's first outbreak since April 2017.

China has given the green light to poultry imports from eleven more Russian establishments while also allowing imports of various turkey by-products for the first time.

Avian flu is once again spreading in Europe, with Hungary and Slovakia the latest countries to report cases of H5N8 – a highly pathogenic variant of the disease that recently resurfaced in Poland.

European lamb prices have strengthened further over the past week, confirming a strong start to the new year.

The EU’s key labelling law, the food information to consumers regulation (FIC – 1169/2011), has no minimum meat content rules governing foods that can be labelled as ‘meat products’ EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides admitted last week.

EU lamb prices have made a very strong start to the New Year, surging to a level almost 9% higher than at the same time in 2019.

Emissions from Scotland’s agricultural sector could be reduced by over a third if the right sustainable farming practices are introduced, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Australian sheep and cattle producers are counting the cost of recent bushfires, which have swept across southern parts of the country - compounding earlier losses to extreme weather events.

Opportunities to fill gaps in Chinese animal protein supplies have dominated the thoughts of meat producers over the past year. Here in the second part of our annual Outlook report, we look at how these new openings are encouraging stakeholders to review their approaches to two important issues: ractopamine and regionalisation.