World Meat Tonnage Declined Year-on-Year, First Drop in Two Decades

Nov. 9, (EIRNS) The total tonnage of world output of meat—all types—is forecast to decline in 2019 by 1% over the previous year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, which deems it the first such drop in 20 years. The FAO’s Food Outlook biannual publication issued Nov. 7 reports that the combined production of cattle, sheep, poultryand pig meat is forecast to total 335 million metric tons in carcass weight equivalent in the latest year, down 1% from the year earlier. This is expected because of the drastic drop in pork output in China, where about half of the Chinese swine herd will have been wiped out over 2019 from African Swine Fever (ASF) since the outbreak first appeared in early 2018. The mass loss is from both the disease and culling to contain the disease spread. ASF has spread to many other nations.

The scale of this food loss poses the value of great powers collaborating on world food security, through science and modern farming—superseding the usual “competitive” markets outlook and practices.