A deadly pig disease is helping turn the global hogs trade into a merry-go-round as Canada takes advantage of tariffs on U.S. produce to boost shipments to China, the world’s largest pork consumer.
Canadian pork exports to China soared 80 percent in March as the spread of African swine fever forces the Asian nation to tap overseas markets, government data show. With Chinese tariffs on American pork still in place, Canada is importing more from the U.S. and shipping its own produce to China. All of that is curbing supply to Mexico.
“There’s a shift in export demand” for pork, Jayson Penn, chief executive officer of chicken producer Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., said at a BMO conference in New York this week. “Instead of going to Mexico, it’s going more to Canada as a substitute for Canada’s replacement of pork which was shipped to China.”
The changes in trade flows mirror what happened in the soybean market last year, with both Argentina and Canada importing more American soy to ship their own oilseeds to China due to tit-for-tat tariffs. As the virus that kills most infected pigs within 10 days spreads at a time the trade war is dragging on, traders are having to be creative to meet demand.
