China is now squashing an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, a disease with a much higher mortality rate to humans than the coronavirus now dominating the headlines. China’s Ministry of Agriculture has reportedly culled 18,000 chickens due to the high path AI outbreak, which amounts to nothing more than a rounding error in terms of the nation’s total flock.  Commodity prices are now plunging as a result of the coronavirus situation, but poultry prices have been falling in China for several months. In part, this is due to the ramp up in production as a substitute protein for pork. But pork imports will remain important in 2020 because for Chinese consumers, it is still the protein of preference. However, protein...

TAGS – Livestock, China