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Pork
Industry Overview
The Australian pork industry focuses on developing 'world’s best quality status' niche markets and tailored domestic and international standard products. Australian Pork Limited has estimated that the Australian pork industry contributed $2.9 billion to the national economy in 2006/07. However, the Australian industry is relatively small in the world market. According to ABARE it accounts for only 0.4 per cent of the world’s production and around 1.4 per cent of world exports.
ABARE states that the Australian pig industry comprises around 1500 pig producing enterprises either as specialist producers or as mixed farming operations. While total herd size has been fairly static over the past two decades, currently sitting at 2.52 million pigs, the number of producers has declined considerably.
Production, exports and imports
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics the industry is estimated to have produced approximately 5.4 million pigs, equivalent to 385,000 tonnes (carcass weight) in 2007/08. Gross value of production (GVP) for 2007/08 was $910 million, a drop from the 2006/07 figure of $944 million due to reduced production from drought-induced stock reductions.
Pig producers are located throughout all states and are generally aligned with grain growing regions. The industry has the largest concentration (28 per cent) in NSW, closely followed by Queensland (26 per cent) and Victoria (20 per cent).
ABARE reports that just under 90 per cent of Australia’s pork production is consumed domestically. According to APL, approximately 40 per cent of that amount goes to the domestic fresh pork market, with the remaining 60 per cent contributing to processed pork products. These include: fresh ham, deli bacon, deli ham, pre-packed rashers and pre-packed ham loaf.
The export market has been important for the Australian pork industry, traditionally accounting for around 10 per cent of Australia’s production. However, the high Australian dollar and solid international competition have led to a reduction in exports. For more information see ABARE. According to Australian Quarantine Inspection Service key export markets by weight are Singapore (58 per cent), Japan (8 per cent) and Thailand (7 per cent).
Pork imports, which began in 1995, have continued to rise sharply since 2000 and in 2007 were equal to almost half of domestic production. Imports from selected countries have been permitted following various changes to quarantine regulations. Most recently, Biosecurity Australia carried out an IRA regarding pigmeat and recommended that imports of pigmeat be permitted into Australia subject to conditions depending on the health status of the export country. This IRA led to changes in the pigmeat import policy in 2004.
Major exporters to Australia include Canada, Denmark and the United States. These three countries account for 99 per cent of imports. Latest estimates by industry are that imports account for around 64 per cent of processed pork consumed in Australia. A number of countries have requested market access since the establishment of the new import policy.
Almost all imports are in uncooked, frozen, boneless form and must be processed on arrival under quarantine control. The following countries currently have permission to export deboned pigmeat to Australia:
- Canada (Cooked and uncooked for further processing)
- Denmark (Cooked and uncooked for further processing)
- United States of America (Cooked and uncooked for further processing)
- Finland (Uncooked for further processing)
- Sweden (Uncooked for further processing)
- Spain (Dry cured Serrano type ham)
- Italy (Dry cured Parma type ham)
Australian Pork Limited
APL is the declared national industry service provider for the Australian pig industry under the Pig Industry Act 2001. It is a producer-owned, not-for-profit company and achieves its aims through marketing, export development, research, innovation and strategic policy development.
The Australian Government works in conjunction with APL to provide a long-term, sustainable framework for pork producers to supply high-standard food to both the export and domestic markets.
APL’s primary funding is derived from statutory pig slaughter levies collected under the Primary Industry (Excise) Levies Act 1999.
The Australian Government matches eligible pig industry R&D expenditure. Over the past five years, this additional funding has totalled almost $20 million. This is in addition to direct government investment in the Pork Cooperative Research Centre.
Quality Assurance
The Australian Pork Industry Quality program (APIQ) is the Australian pork industry's main on-farm quality assurance program, covering food safety, biosecurity and animal welfare.
The program is administered by APL and was introduced in 1997 to signal to the domestic and export markets that the Australian pork industry is committed to providing a safe, wholesome product of the highest quality.
APL encourages all producers to become APIQ certified, even if they already have sound practices in place that underpin the production of safe and wholesome pork.
AQIS requires all pork exporters to verify that the pork and pig offal that they wish to export meets the quarantine and food safety requirements of the importing country. The industry have the ability to trace individual pigs to property of origin if an exotic disease or chemical residue is detected in the supply chain. Verification requires that pigs consigned to export abattoirs are accompanied by a vendor declaration which is backed up by either an appropriate on-farm Quality Assurance system or by routine residue testing of pigs.
To meet these national requirements, the PigPass system has been introduced. PigPass is a new initiative of the Australian pork industry, developed under the Commonwealth-funded Pig Traceability Project. It is a National Vendor Declaration and Waybill system supported by all industry sectors and Australian and State Governments.
The PigPass program links together the PigPass National Vendor Declaration system and the PigPass Quality Assurance program that allows both the ability to trace individual pigs to their property of origin if an exotic disease or chemical residue is detected in the supply chain and ensures that best-practice is employed in on-farm production.
Levy
The pig industry has agreed that a compulsory levy to be paid on the slaughter of each pig. The Pig Slaughter Levy is $2.525 per carcass, of this $2.35 is allocated to APL with $1.65 dedicated to marketing activities and $0.70 for research and development. The remaining $0.175 is used for the residue monitoring program managed by the National Residue Survey within DAFF.
Pork Cooperative Research Centre
The Pork Cooperative Research Centre (Pork CRC) established in 2005 has a vision to enhance the international competitiveness of the Australian pork industry by providing and adopting new and novel technologies that reduce feed costs, improve herd feed conversion efficiency and increase the range and functionality of pork products. The Pork CRC also aims to deliver formal education and training opportunities to attract new industry entrants and retain technical expertise and innovation.
It is expected that by the end of 2012 the pork industry, universities and governments will have provided about $81.5 million in resources to the Pork CRC, with the Australian Government contributing around $26 million.
Core participants in the Pork CRC include: Australian Pork Ltd, Australian Pork Farms Group, University of Adelaide, Murdoch University, NZ Pork Industry Board, The CHM Alliance and the University of Sydney. There are also many other industry participants which support the CRC.
Safeguards Inquiry into the Import of Pigmeat 2007
On 17 October 2007 the Productivity Commission was asked to undertake an inquiry into pigmeat imports to determine if safeguard measures to temporarily protect the Australian pork industry were justified.
In its final report, released 4 April 2008, the commission found that:
- industry is suffering financial hardship
- increased imports are not the major cause of injury to the domestic industry
- safeguard measures are not justified
- the overwhelming cause of serious injury has been higher domestic feed costs.
The Government’s response to the commission’s report was tabled in parliament on 4 June 2008 
PDF [64kb] 
Word [101kb]
For information about the Productivity Commission inquiry, including the final report, please see the Productivity Commission website.
The government is working closely with the pork industry to find other ways of boosting its competitive position.
New Welfare Code of Practice
The Primary Industry Ministerial Council endorsed the revised Model Code of Practice for the Welfare of Animals - Pigs (3rd Edition) in April 2007.
The new version of the Code includes standards that are to be implemented in nationally consistent legislation across Australia. These standards will be brought into force in each State and Territory, with some changes phased in over 3, 5 and 10 years from April 2007. Most of the changes reflect current industry practice and provide guidance for all those responsible for pig welfare. However, the provisions for group housing of pregnant sows is a significant change.
