The global livestock industry has experienced a number of important events in 2024, which have had a profound impact on the production, trade and technological development of the industry. Here is an overview of these events:
Major events in the global livestock industry in 2024
- **African swine fever epidemic**: In October 2024, many places around the world, including Hungary, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine and Romania, reported African swine fever epidemics in wild boars or domestic pigs. These epidemics resulted in the infection and death of a large number of pigs, and culling measures were adopted in some serious areas to prevent the spread of the epidemic, which had an impact on the global pork market.
- **Highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemic**: During the same period, multiple highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemics occurred around the world, affecting countries including Germany, Norway, Hungary, Poland, etc. The poultry epidemic in Poland was particularly severe, resulting in a large number of poultry infections and deaths.
- **The world’s top feed companies list released**: On October 17, 2024, WATT International Media released the world’s top feed companies list, showing that there are 7 companies in China with feed production exceeding 10 million tons, including New Hope, Haidah and Muyuan’s feed production exceeds 20 million tons, making it the world’s largest feed producer.
- **Opportunities and Challenges in the Poultry Feed Industry**: Article dated February 15, 2024 analyzes the opportunities and challenges in the poultry feed industry, including the impact of inflation on feed costs, rising feed additive costs, and the challenges of sustainable feed production emphasis, modernization of feed production and concern for poultry health and welfare.
Impact on the global livestock industry in 2024
- **Changes in market supply and demand**: In 2024, the global livestock industry will face major changes in supply and demand. For example, China’s pork imports are expected to drop 21% year-on-year to 1.5 million tons, the lowest level since 2019. At the same time, U.S. beef production was 8.011 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 0.5%; pork production was 8.288 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 2.2%.
- **Technological Progress and Sustainable Development**: With the continuous development of science and technology, livestock production will pay more attention to intelligence, automation and precise management. By applying technological means such as the Internet of Things, big data and artificial intelligence, production efficiency and product quality can be improved.
In 2024, the global livestock industry experienced the impact of African swine fever, highly pathogenic avian influenza and other epidemics, and also witnessed the rapid development of the feed industry. These events not only affected the production and development of the livestock industry, but also had an important impact on the market demand and trade pattern of the global livestock industry.
