Donald Trump ordered last week that U.S. abattoirs must remain open to maintain national food supplies, even when workers are sick and dying from the effects of the corona virus.
The president refers to the "Defense Production Act" from 1950. Lawyers and members of parliament, consumers and slaughterhouse employees criticize the measure because the arrangement endangers human life and ensures that the products from exports to China.
In the United States, large slaughterhouses such as Smithfield, JBS and Tyson Foods temporarily closed around 20 slaughterhouses as thousands of workers contracted the virus. As a result, 30% less meat will be offered in US supermarkets at the end of May and consumer prices will rise by 20%. In mid-March, 40% fewer pigs were slaughtered, while the United States delivered four times more pork to China than in the previous year.
Smithfield, the largest pig butcher in the United States, owned by the Chinese WH group, was the largest exporter from January to March. In March alone, 13,680 tons were loaded into China.The logistics were fully utilized.
When the first part of a trade agreement with China was signed in January, it was not foreseeable that there might be a shortage of food supplies in the United States. In the agreement, China pledged $ 12.5 billion in U.S. agricultural goods in 2020 and $ 19.5 billion in 2021 over 2017 imports. At that time, China bought for 24 billion US agricultural goods.
China will have to replenish its increased need for protein foods in the next two years, which more than half of the national herds of pigs die or have to cull due to African swine fever (ASF).
Source
Hansa Terminhandel GmbH
