Cranswick plc saw underlying sales volumes increase in the three months to December 31, 2014, with growth returning to the fresh pork market.

So the name BPEX is to go. Way back in my youth I was seconded to a prominent London-based advertising agency as part of training in marketing. One of the essentials drummed into me concerned brand names. How important it was to establish a recognised one; how much money to spend on establishing it in any specialised market (in our case pigmeat production); identifying where to spend it; and how to capitalise on it once secured.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has today published the results of its 2013 animal welfare survey of slaughterhouses in Britain, showing an improvement on the previous survey.

Pig sector research is being stepped up in Canada with seven provincial pork associations giving their backing to a funding increase for the country’s Swine Cluster 2 programme: “Driving Results through Innovation, 2013-2018”.

BPEX weekly pig prices, slaughter data and commentary for Great Britain.

Merchant's ex-farm buying-in straw prices (£/t) supplied by the British Hay & Straw Merchants Association.

An assessment of how the Chinese market and other key markets in Asia are changing and how this is affecting demand for UK dairy and meat products, will form a major part of next month’s AHDB outlook conference.

Russian pork import prices finished last year around 80% above the levels reached in 2013, as the country's imposition of two import bans during the past 12 months placed increasing strain on supplies, according to BPEX.

Brussels looks set on destroying France's hopes of reopening some trade in pigmeat with Russia, with European farmers union Copa-Cogeca adding its support to the EC's opposition to the deal, writes Pig World editor Graeme Kirk.

Freedom Food has congratulated the fast food chain, McDonald’s, for using 100% Freedom Food labelled pork across its entire UK menu.

The latest Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) Pig Disease Surveillance Report includes notice of the agency’s first diagnosis of oedema disease in East Anglia for many years.

Both the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) and Copa Cogeca have spoken out this week on the need for Europe’s supermarkets to be placed under tighter controls concerning what they pay farmers for supplies.

Dutch co-product group Duynie BV has brought together three British-based companies in its portfolio to form Duynie UK, a new co-product supply specialist for the livestock sector that has a lot to offer the pig sector. Graeme Kirk reports

In the final part of his three-part series on liquid feeding, Steve Stokes of Hampshire Feeding Systems (HFS) looks at strategies for feeding different classes of pigs

EU farm ministers have agreed to “look” at the introduction of additional measures for the pigmeat sector, following a major debate on current problems during Monday’s EU farm ministers’ meeting in Brussels.

South Korea imported 24% more pork in 2014, with more than 50% of imported products coming from the EU, according to BPEX.

Scottish pig sector output in 2014 is estimated to have been worth £94 million, up from £79 million in 2013, according to figures released today by the Scottish Government. 

Tulip has developed an innovative curing process for its Danepak bacon brand to give consumers a product with 30% less salt than standard bacon.

The global pigmeat sector is heading for further “turbulence” in 2015 according to a new analysis by the Dutch-based Rabobank.

The Danish pig industry, whose export-based strategies affect other countries, not least the UK, will remain “influential” this year despite facing many challenges, according to an analysis carried out by BPEX.  

Former Morrisons’ executive, Louise Welsh, has been named as one of seven founder members of the board of Food Standards Scotland (FSS), the new stand-alone body which will take over from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Scotland on April 1, 2015.

It has never been more important for farmers to fully understand cash requirements than it is today says the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation's Andrew Connah.

It was another red-ink day for sellers, with the SPP continuing to slide and losing another 0.88p to stand at 140.82p and other factory and index prices following suit.

A new BPEX analysis, exploring the relationship between prices for weaners, finished pigs and feed, suggests that while weaner prices are normally set in a “rational way” there have been times in the last nine years when “industry sentiment” has also played a part.

The National Pig Association (NPA) has reported that while an “agreement” has been reached concerning a selective lifting by Russia of its January 2014 African swine fever (ASF) ban on pork from EU countries, the ban hasn't yet been actually lifted.

Three research projects designed to look at controlling the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virus (PEDv) have been announced by the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, backed by significant provincial government funding.

Food safety MEPs have voted 48-15 in favour of the introduction country of origin labelling for meat used as an ingredient in processed foods, as is already the case for bovine fresh meat.

Copa-Cogeca, the European farmers and farm cooperative body has issued a stinging tweet, voicing its disgust at the way supermarkets have behaved in the wake of the Russian ban on EU food imports.

The European Commission (EC) has “back-tracked” on its reported agreement to reinstate the role of chief scientific adviser, according to the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).

Irish pig farming leaders have drawn some positives this week out of the “talk” of an early reopening of the Russian market to EU pigmeat, plus the fact that EU pig prices remained “stable” this week.

Producers, selected on a random basis, are being asked this month to respond to a questionnaire about antibiotic use in pigs as part of a national study, funded by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, which has already sought views from the UK’s veterinary surgeons.

Suggestions that the Russians may be about to do a U-turn on its ban on imports of pork from EU member states should be treated with care, writes Pig World editor Graeme Kirk.

Yorkshire pig farmer, Andy Brown, has invested £19,000 in a ready-to-use nursery cabin after seeing a similar unit in operation on one of Rattlerow Farms’ 600-sow commercial units where it is reported to be saving, on average, the life of half a pig a litter.

The New Year has failed to trigger any upturn in fortunes for European pig producers, with prices averaging just over £100 per 100kg in the week ended January 11, according to BPEX.

Farmers can expect to see red diesel prices continuing to slide with the likelihood that it will be "many months" before oil prices rise again as higher-cost oil producers are gradually driven out of the market, according to National Farmers Union (NFU) economist Anand Dossa.