The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts that Chinese pork imports will fall by around 20% this year, while EU exports will be eased by a roughly 7% rise in UK demand. In addition, markets such as Japan, South Korea and Australia are also expected to grow.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects global pork production to grow by 3 percent through 2022, driven by an increase in China's hog herd. In fact, China's hog production is expected to reach 51 million tons this year, up 7% from 2021. In the EU, production is expected to contract by around 2%, to around 23.2 million tonnes.

Trade in the Chinese market and the Philippine market is expected to contract. Excluding China, the Philippine market is expected to contract by about 18 percent, directly impacting pork trade volumes this year. World pork trade is forecast to fall by 4% to around 11.7 million tonnes in 2022.

Regarding beef, thanks to growth in markets such as Australia, Brazil, India or Mexico, the USDA forecasts that world production will increase by about 1% by 2022. But production in Canada, the US and the EU is expected to fall by 3%.

On the trade front, global beef trade is expected to grow by 3% from 2021 due to strong demand from East Asian markets. However, livestock shortages in New Zealand and some MERCOSUR countries (Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina) will significantly limit exports from these countries throughout the year.

Regarding chicken production, global chicken production is expected to remain stable this year and be very similar to 2021. In addition, higher feed prices have slowed chicken's larger-than-expected expansion. Brazil will significantly increase production and become the main country to meet world demand. Meanwhile, Chinese chicken production is expected to decline as pork production continues to recover.

World chicken trade is also not expected to change significantly compared to last year, with the USDA forecasting it to be close to 13.4 million tons. As with production, Brazil is expected to take the market share of Ukraine's exit. In 2022, chicken imports from Ukraine, Russia and Saudi Arabia are set to decrease, while imports from countries such as the United Kingdom, Iraq, Cuba and Mexico are expected to increase moderately.