UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS — Rabobank’s Global Pork Quarterly Q1 2025 report explained how the pork industry remains cautious about herd expansion even with lower feed costs and improved productivity than the previous year.

According to information from Chenjun Pan, senior analyst of Animal Protein at Rabobank, potential policy changes from the United States and its trading partners added uncertainty to labor availability, capital distribution and global trade.

She explained that President Donald Trump’s tariff policies would likely cause some rerouting of commodity trade, but the extent of the impact remains uncertain.  

Other pork insights included looking out for disease outbreaks that continue to impact markets with African swine fever (ASF) in Asia and Europe along with porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome virus (PRRSv) around the world and a recent foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Germany.

“Changes in countries’ diseases statues could disrupt global trade,” Rabobank said. “Various countries’ suspension of German pork imports highlights how diseases are challenging supply chains. Biosecurity will remain a key issue for the industry, with opportunities to invest in animal health improvement.”

Addressing the diseases requires investment in animal health, farming equipment, automation, digitalization and AI-powered production systems.

Other outlook items included in the report were the possible rise in inflation for some regions in 2025 that would put downward pressure on market demand.

Some regional updates on the pork market include North America, with strong hog prices due to tighter suppliers and good packer demand.

Rabobank also noted that China’s hog prices look to fall in 2025 due to rising production and stagnant demand.

More information from the pork report can be found here.