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Local pig farmer: Flu outbreak may help   By INDERIA SAUNDERS ~ Guardian Business Reporter ~ inderia@nasguard.com: Unlike his U.S. counterparts, a local pork producer maintains business may actually improve because of the swine flu outbreak — sorry, the H1N1 outbreak. Any such growth, argues Lakeview farmer Emerson Major, would come courtesy of Bahamian consumers, who increasing leery about imported pork, would seek out the domestic alternative. If that happens it would accomplish what Ministry of Agriculture efforts have largely failed to do — get Bahamians to buy Bahamian. "The outbreak could be to our advantage really," he told Guardian Business last week. "If they import less, bearing in mind that [swine flu outbreak] idea, our pork could be in higher demand. "It'll alert the public on the quality of meat we produce." As it is now, the outbreak, which started in Mexico but has now spread to 17 countries and led to about 20 confirmed deaths, has done nothing to erode Major's sales, he said, pointing to his most recent shipment to the local slaughter house last Thursday. That stead demand has been the case elsewhere around the world. Producers in the U.S. are already suffering through a plummeting demand for the meat and health officials in Egypt have now moved to slaughter around 300k pigs in what World Health Organization officials call a misguided attempt to stem the outbreak or prevent a new one. While one of the three virus making up the H1N1 is common in swine, the flu isn't contracted through the consumption of pork. That fact has been slow to convince even consumers here, especially worried about foreign supply, which has traditionally enjoyed a price advantage over the pork of Major and other local producers. T The price difference had spurred talk about government intervention in the form of subsidizes or higher tariffs on imports. "The amount of imports affect our business," Major said. "Before this we believed limits needed to be put on the amount of pork imported into the country [because] that would be a tremendous help for farmers." What the government has done is offer Major's operation and other Bahamian outfits a clean bill of health after testing last week. The flu outbreak may also help to reduce costs for the farmer. The price of feed for pigs is now falling. Last week, soybean prices and grain futures dropped on speculation the outbreak would curb demand for pork, and by extension feed. Along with the general strain on operating, the recession has increased feed prices and cut into his and many other farmers' profit margins, said Major. He places that decline at about 20 percent. He is, in fact, already looking forward to those cheaper feed prices. "Because [cheaper] food for the animals will affect the weight and fatter pigs can fetch more."