New Zealand – lamb exports to Europe slow

New Zealand’s meat industry exported less than 16,000t of lamb to the EU and UK in final months of 2020, which is the lowest volume in the past five years.

US – double-digit growth in pork exports

According to new data from the US Department of Agriculture, US pigmeat exports reached nearly 3m tonnes in 2020, beating the 2019 record by 11%. The value of US pigmeat exports for 2020 stood at $7.7bn (€6.4bn).

France – milk production flat in 2020

New figures from Eurostat show French milk production for December stood at just under 2bn litres, which was down almost 1.5% year on year. This brings French milk production for all of 2020 to a cumulative 23.8bn litres, which is just slightly ahead of French milk output in 2019.

South America – maize harvest gets under way

The annual maize harvest is under way in South American countries such as Brazil and Argentina, which are major exporters. Argentinian maize production is forecast at 48m tonnes for 2021, while Brazilian maize production is expected to hit 133m tonnes.