China’s retaliatory tariffs have dealt a severe blow to the U.S. breeding pig sector, forcing producers to cancel high-value export deals and send top-quality pigs to slaughter for a fraction of their worth.

Canada’s pork industry is grappling with a combination of internal and external pressures — from regional production disputes in Quebec to steep tariffs imposed by China — all of which are fuelling uncertainty across the sector.

The European Parliament voted on Thursday to introduce steep tariffs on fertilisers and certain agricultural imports from Russia and Belarus, aiming to protect EU food security and cut off funding for Russia’s war against Ukraine, Reuters reports.

More than 26,700 animals have been culled in Central Europe since the beginning of 2025 due to outbreaks of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), according to data from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) presented at a recent EU committee meeting, agronews.ua reports.

Global pork trade flows are undergoing significant changes due to the combined impact of trade tariffs and animal disease outbreaks, according to Rabobank’s Global Pork Quarterly report for Q2 2025. While Brazil and the EU are benefiting from shifting demand, production challenges and consumer uncertainty continue to weigh on global market growth.

The average live pig price in Ukraine has risen by 25% over the past three months — from UAH 74/kg at the end of February to UAH 93/kg in May. According to the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders (AUPB), this price growth stems from a significant reduction in pig numbers, leading to a supply shortage on the domestic market.

France has recorded a significant increase in swine flu outbreaks following the emergence of a new virus genotype — H1N2#E — which has shown the ability to bypass existing immunity. In the year after the genotype first appeared, 661 outbreaks were reported on French pig farms, compared to the previous average of 400 cases annually.

In 2024, the number of African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks among domestic pigs in the European Union dropped by 83% compared to 2023 – from 1,929 to 333 cases. This is according to the latest annual epidemiological report from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The decline is largely attributed to fewer outbreaks in Romania and Croatia and marks the lowest annual figure since 2017.

China and South Asia recorded the highest levels of mycotoxin contamination in animal feed during the first quarter of 2025, according to DSM-Firmenich’s global mycotoxin survey. The analysis covered 6,000 feed samples from 70 countries.

African Swine Fever (ASF) continues to spread — albeit slowly — in the region surrounding Frankfurt-am-Main in western Germany. Recent data show that the virus has already caused the death of over 2,000 wild boar in this area alone, and the numbers keep rising.

Despite a direct intervention from former U.S. President Donald Trump, American pork producers have not yet gained access to the lucrative UK market. However, the UK’s National Pig Association (NPA) warns that U.S. efforts to enter the British pork market are far from over.

On May 2, 2025, Slovakia's National Reference Laboratory in Zvolen confirmed an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) on a commercial pig farm located in the cadastral area of Dolné Semerovce, Levice district. This marks the first confirmed case of ASF in domestic pigs in the country in 2025.

In May, purchase prices for slaughter pigs consolidated, according to the results of weekly monitoring of purchase prices by the analytical department of the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders.

New research shows that the African swine fever (ASF) virus remains viable even after multiple freeze-thaw cycles, opening new possibilities for sample storage and transport in diagnostic efforts. The findings come from a recent study conducted by Kansas State University in the United States.

The United States and China have agreed to significantly reduce trade tariffs and suspend new tariffs for 90 days. This is the first step towards restoring mutually beneficial economic relations between the countries, according to the White House.

According to the UK's Agriculture and Horticulture Development Agency (AHDB), global pork production in 2025 will remain virtually unchanged from 2024 at 116.7 million tonnes. This is stated in a recent quarterly report by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

U.S. pork exports in March 2025 exceeded year-ago volumes, continuing a positive trend largely fueled by strong demand from Latin American markets. According to data released by the USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), March exports totaled 269,344 metric tons (mt), up 3% year-over-year, with export value increasing 4% to $769.7 million.

The past five years have been a challenging period for the UK pork industry, shaped by the intersecting impacts of Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and global economic and geopolitical disruptions. While new trade deals and markets offer potential, labour shortages, rising production costs, and shifting trade dynamics have left a lasting mark on the sector.

In 2024, global animal feed production grew by 1.2%, reaching 1.396 billion metric tonnes, according to Alltech’s Agri-Food Outlook report. However, pig feed production bucked the overall trend, declining by 0.6% to 369.3 million tonnes.