Meat Market Review - Overview of global meat market developments, March 2019

Year of publication2019

AuthorFAO

PublisherFAO

AbstractGlobal meat output in 2018 is estimated at 336.4 million tonnes, up 1.2 percent from 2017, principally originated in the United States, the EU, and the Russian Federation, but partially offset by a decline in China and stagnation in Brazil, two of the world’s largest meat producers. Meat output volumes expanded in all major regions in the world, especially in Europe and North America. Productivity improvements, as countries introduced better management practices, more streamlined production systems and new technology, were largely behind the output expansion. Moreover, droughts in some parts of the world, including in the United States in the first half of the year, in the EU during the summer months, and Australia almost throughout the year, led to higher animal slaughter. Across the various meat sub-sectors, bovine meat output (refer to meat derived from ruminant mammals including cows, ox and buffalos) registered the highest expansion (+2.1 percent), followed by poultry meat (+1.3 percent), but remained stable for ovine meat (meat derived from sheep and goats) (+0.6 percent) and pigmeat (+0.6 percent). World meat exports in 2018 is estimated at 33.8 million tonnes, up 2.9 percent from 2017, principally driven by increased shipments from the United States, Australia, Argentina and the EU, but retreated in India, China and Brazil. China, the world’s largest meat importer, increased its purchases significantly, as consumer demand for meat continued to rise amid a contraction in pigmeat output, partly due to the onset of the African swine fever. Elsewhere, imports increased in the Republic of Korea, and Viet Nam, while the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia and the United States have cut back on imports. Across meat categories, world meat exports expanded at faster rates for ovine (+9.4 percent) and bovine (+6.1 percent) than for pigmeat (+1.6 percent) and poultry (+1.0 percent). The annual average value of world meat prices in 2018, measured by the FAO Meat Price Index, was 2.2 percent lower than in 2017, reflecting the declines in prices of pig (-8.1 percent) and poultry (-4.8 percent) meats and stability of bovine meat prices (+0.2 percent). Ovine meat prices increased by as much as 17 percent, but did not affect the average index value significantly because of its low weightage in the index. The spread of the African Swine Fever (ASF) and associated import restrictions weighed on international pigmeat price quotations while generally sluggish poultry import demand caused its prices to weaken. Abundant export supplies and robust demand from across the world characterized the global bovine market, keeping its prices stable. Price strength of ovine meat during the whole year was a result of strong import demand, combined with limited supplies from Oceania.

 

ThemeAgricultural Commodities and Development

Product typeJournal; magazine; bulletin

SeriesMeat Market Review

CommodityMeat

Keywordsmeat production; meat products; market prices; international trade