Feedinfo Review summer 2023 news bites: Global context

HPAI reaches Brazil

This quarter saw highly pathogenic avian influenza reach Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of chicken meat, for the first time. From mid-May through late-June, tests turned up a few dozen cases in wild birds. In late June, a case was identified in poultry, on the farm of a smallholder in the state of Espírito Santo. Read more about this developing story on page 6

European Commission allows chinese vitamin D3 back into market

In late May, the European Commission issued a derogation allowing imports of Chinese feed-grade vitamin D3 into the EU once more. The move ended months of issues caused after a change in how lanolin, a key raw material used by all vitamin D3 500 producers, was classified when it was imported into the EU. This change required export health certificates which few suppliers had.

Californian animal welfare law upheld, requiring pork industry adaptation

In May, the US Supreme Court voted to uphold a California ballot initiative passed in 2018 requiring that animals producing California’s eggs, veal, or pork be given a minimum amount of space. The decision will require many involved in the pork supply chain — nearly all of whom are outside the state — to make changes to their facilities to be compliant, particularly those at the breeding stage, where the use of gestational crates for pregnant animals remains common.

Legal action from dsm-firmenich over biotin and vitamin d3 IP

In June, dsm-firmenich announced it had initiated legal action for patent infringement against Zhejiang Shengda Bio-pharm Co., Ltd. — a biotin supplier — and Anhui Shengda Bio-pharm Co., Ltd., a.k.a. Anhui Shengda Bio-engineering Co., Ltd. — a biotin intermediate manufacturer. The petition brought before the court in Anhui Province, China, alleges that Shengda’s production of a key biotin intermediate at its Anhui site is an unlawful use of dsmfirmenich patented technology.

This was followed up shortly thereafter with an announcement that the European vitamin manufacturer had also initiated legal action in China for patent infringement against Shandong Haineng Bioengineering Co. Ltd., asserting that certain Haineng swine compound premix containing 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 constitutes unlawful use of dsm-firmenich patented technology.

Ukrainian free trade with EU Continues; Black Sea Grains Corridor’s future uncertain

In early June, the EU extended the liberalisation of trade with Ukraine for a further year. However, unlike the unlimited relaxation of duties, quotas, and trade defense measures which the single market had agreed to in 2022 in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this time around the EU decided to allow five member states in the vicinity of Ukraine to ban certain grains and oilseeds imports from being sold locally, although they remain obliged to allow the transit of these products on to other markets. This compromise, meant to stave off less targeted unilateral action by EU states in Ukraine’s neighbourhood, is set to run through September.

Keeping open international trade routes which pass through the EU is even more important for Ukraine given the uncertain future of the Black Sea Grains Initiative, the other important channel for the country’s agricultural exports. Although Russia did agree to another 60-day extension of the agreement in May, most observers believe that the deal will not be renewed any further after its expiry in July. Russia has been seen to be blocking one of the three ports covered by the initiative, Pivdennyi, upset at the deal’s failure to facilitate ammonia exports via Ukraine. According to the UN, food exports through the corridor in May dropped to their lowest level since the initiative began last summer.

Kakhovka Dam explosion

In early June, the Nova Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River in Ukraine was destroyed in an explosion. Beyond the grave human and environmental consequences of the act, there are also likely to be long-term impacts on the agricultural capacity of certain areas of southern Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture, quoted by Reuters, said that 31 irrigation systems in the Ukrainian regions of Dnipro, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia relied on the dam’s water to serve 584,000 hectares of land producing around 4 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds, as well as other crops such as vegetables.