CAHE review: Business as usual despite ASF

29-05-2019 | Home | Article

China’s animal livestock industry is hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently. However, at CAHE, one of the industry’s flagship tradeshows, there was a notable absence of the drama which is unfolding in farms across the country as African Swine Fever takes its toll.

The 17^th China International Animal Husbandry Expo, or CAHE as its informally known, was held on May 18-20, 2019 at Wuhan International Expo Center. Under the theme of challenge, opportunity, development and innovation, the exhibition “aimed to demonstrate that modern animal husbandry’s advancing with the times and forging ahead”, according to the organisers. A tough call when the country’s meat production industry is in the midst of a tectonic shift.

Latest pig and poultry technology on show

With visitor numbers reaching around 90,000, this was slightly lower than the event last year in Chongqing. However, the event attracted around 1,200 exhibitors from agricultural enterprises and upstream and downstream related companies from more than 30 countries and regions around the world.

Being the largest livestock tradeshow in China, with an exhibition area of about 130,000m² there was a lot of ground to cover, with the whole farm to fork chain covered. Exhibitors said that this year’s event surpassed previous editions with more attention being paid to transformation and upgrading. In line with this, smart farming and intelligence concepts were on full display. In terms of International presence, the Holland, France and Danish pavilions had good representation.

ASF has become the elephant in the room

When talking with Chinese exhibitors about the ASF crisis, they would shake their heads, fully aware that there is no quick solution. With a vaccine not on the horizon and the outbreaks still spreading, it is clear that the Chinese pig industry has a long and rocky road ahead of it. In contrast, the poultry industry needs to develop at a rapid pace and ramp up production to attempt to fill the increasing gap in the market.

Prior to the event Pig Progress spoke with Rabobank analyst Pan Chenjun to gain an oversight of the economic effect of African Swine Fever in China (more to follow on Pig Progress later this month), where she indicated that restocking of farms would start to take place in the second half of this year. CAHE was an optimum opportunity to discover the latest technologies to rebuild in a safer, efficient manner. In this way, the Chinese resilience was on full display.

Click through the photo gallery below for a visual summary of this year’s expo.

Wuhan, in the Hubei province of China, was the location for the 2019 edition of the China International Animal Husbandry Expo, otherwise known as CAHE. Large scale building works dominate the skyline surrounding the exposition grounds. Photos: Rosie Burgin
Long queues formed outside on the first day of opening on May 18th.
After going through a high pressure biosecurity spray, visitors could enter the halls, which covered over 130,000 m2.
With almost 90,000 visitors in attendance at the 3 day event, day one was by far the busiest day for the 1200 exhibitors.
Despite African Swine Fever having a devastating effect in China’s pig herds, the industry was still notably present.
Live animals are an obvious ‘no-go’, but there were plenty of other ‘animals’ on display…
…Including pigs on wheels at one of the various companies promoting smart farming techniques.
Walking feed bags, was another intuitive way to garner attention.
Misset, publisher of Pig Progress, was at the event to promote its WeChat channel.
With digital media consumption leading in China, with a quick scan of the QR code, followers will have access to the high-end article content produced by Misset.
Misset was also media partner for well-attended seminars organised by the Netherlands Agro, Food & Technology Centre (NAFTC). Here, healthier farming practices for both pigs and poultry were addressed.
A walk between the 2 huge hall areas gave an opportunity to catch some fresh air.
Although the size of some booths was impressive, it was not always necessary.
The scale of the expo meant that it could be quite exhausting to cover it all on foot.
Chinese integrator Kingpen, was promoting its new sustainable solution. A two-storey pig farm with the animals underneath and the second floor used as a cultivation room for plants, fruits and vegetables.
GD Animal Health, had something to celebrate… it’s 100th jubilee. This was recognised with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
For those who struggle with knowing which eggs to eat, colour-coordinated egg boxes could be the solution for you.
Despite the weird and wonderful being on display, there was also an underlying serious message. Biosecurity, disinfection and healthier farming practices really are the take-home message for the industry this year…
… so that hopefully by next year’s event, the Chinese livestock industry is even more ready to deal with whatever maybe putting it at risk.