April 30, 2009
Mexico pork group says domestic sales down 80 percent on flu concern
Mexican pork producers said Wednesday (April 29) that sales in the domestic market have fallen 80 percent since the outbreak of a new swine flu virus, confirmed last Thursday, that was suspected to have caused the deaths of up to 159 people.
"Mexican people do not want to eat pork meat at the moment, there is a lot of confusion and fear over this at the moment, even though it has been well documented that there is no risk to consumption from the swine influenza," said Enrique Dominguez, president of the Confederation of Mexican Pork Producers.
Dominguez said the swine flu outbreak that has emerged as a growing global health concern, with the potential of developing into a pandemic, has led to some pork companies "not selling even a single kilogram" in these last few days.
Per-capita Mexican pork consumption is currently about 14 kilograms a year and domestic sales from local production reach about 100,000 tonnes a month, he said.
Mexico's government has since Thursday closed down virtually every public spaces in the capital, suspended cultural activities from theatres to cinemas and shut down schools nationwide until May 6 in a move to contain the spread of the virus.
He said Mexico imports some 700,000 tonnes of pork meat a year, the bulk of it from the US, while Mexican pork producers export about 60,000 tonnes a year, almost entirely to Japan.
