Pork prices in China are reportedly rising in China as Beijing continues its efforts to contain the spread of the African swine fever sweeping across the country. State media outlet, however, brings assurance to the consumer public that the recent hog outbreaks won't necessarily affect the overall pork supply and sales in China.
Thursday last week, Chinese authorities reported three outbreaks of African swine fever in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, west of Shanghai, the report from the Wall Street Journal said.
This latest incident killed nine pigs on a farm housing a total of 97 pigs. Meanwhile, 12 hogs were spotted showing symptoms of the disease.
Earlier in August, 38,000 pigs in China have died while some have been culled after local livestock authorities detected several cases of the hog fever.
Transport of pigs and pork products from the said Chinese provinces have since been banned beginning on Sunday in an attempt to quarantine the virus and to prevent from further infecting other pig farms.
China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, with the directive from Beijing, has issued approval for the livestock industry to push prices up by about 10 percent throughout the country, a Bloomberg report indicated.
Market analysts are now wary of the situation which could potentially add up to China's inflation concerns. The average consumers, on the other hand, will likely be among the first casualties of the said crisis.
However, as clarified by the Agricultural Ministry on Tuesday, the spread of the African swine fever (ASF) won't necessarily create a huge impact on the Chinese meat market.
Citing the statement given by the ministry via a state radio channel, the report from Thomson Reuters said that the hog outbreak will only have a minimal effect on the pork supply and sales in the country.
Research and studies do point out that there will certainly be a "short-term impact" particularly on the prices of the food product. Still, authorities maintained that these "negative effects" will eventually decline given China's on-going implementation of quarantine measures in affected areas as well as its continuing efforts to improve food quality control.
China is both the world's largest consumer and producer of pork, the report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said and as mentioned over at CNN.
The publication further indicated that majority of the world's pork exports head over to China. The US, in particular, rely on the Asian powerhouse for the sale of its pig products. However, with the current trade spat going on between the two, it seems like the situation will change following Beijing's decision to slap a hefty 25 percent tariff on American pork exports.
