Elżbieta Jadwiga Szymańska  (editor)

 CHANGES IN THE LIVE PIG MARKET IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

The subject of the considerations set out in the monograph is to analyze changes in the pork market in selected countries in order to identify the problems and prospects of its development. A detailed analysis was applied to countries like: United States of America, Ukraine, Hungary and Poland. The elaborations presented in the monograph were prepared by scientific employees, experts from different countries, who in their research are engaged in demand, supply and consumption of pork.

The importance of these issues is evidenced by the fact that pork is a basic species of meat in the food market and on a global scale there is an intense development of its production. A feature of the pork market is the variability of the market, growth of demand for pork, particularly in developing countries and the increasing intensification and concentration of production. Moreover, the pork market id characterized by the development of international trade, integration in the supply chain of pork, the volatility of exchange rates and emerging animal diseases such as  porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) and African swine fever (ASF).

The challenge for pig producers is  the higher demand for food, driven by growing population and high production costs, resulting from increasing fuels and energy, promotion of biofuels and weather risk. The most important criterion in economic decision-making becomes the maximization of economic efficiency. In addition, along with the development of world trade, the income of food industry largely depends on the success of the sales of raw materials in the international markets. Sanitary and veterinary standards often play the role of market protection tools.

The development is targeted for a wide range of readers, because it has not only cognitive, but also practical character. Its analysis and conclusions may be useful for both producers of bait pork, entrepreneurs involved in the slaughtering of pigs and processing of pork, and decision makers that have influence on the shaping of agricultural policy in this market. I hope that the monograph will represent an immeasurable contribution to further research and development of solutions which ensure the development of live pig production in the world.

 Warsaw University of Life Sciences Press, Warsaw 2017

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