In the past three months, several Chinese regions have reported outbreaks of the African swine fever. While the outbreak was reported on several provinces, it was quite notable that no southern provinces have reported an outbreak, until recently. According to official reports, two cases of the African swine fever have been reported in the southwest province of Yunnan.
This latest development comes at a time when China is nearing its peak production period of pig products. This is in preparation for the country's most important festival, the New Year holiday which will be held early in February 2019.
According to Soozhu.com chief analysts Feng Yonghui, the worst thing that they have been worrying has now come to pass. Mr. Feng is referring to the spread of the African swine fever epidemic from the northeast region of the country to southwest.
Since the start of the outbreak, more than 40 outbreaks of the highly contagious disease were reported in 11 provinces and municipalities. As part of the strategy to mitigate the spread of the disease, farm owners and local officials have culled more than 200,000 pigs. All the previous outbreaks were reported in the north and eastern region of China, the Yunnan case being the first to be reported in the southern region.
According to the official CCTV report, the latest outbreaks came from two small farms located in the city of Zhaotong in the Yunnan province. Zhaotong is located about 3,000 kilometers from the city of Shenyang where the first outbreak was reported back in August of this year. Many observers believe that the spread to the southern region of China can be traced back to the fact that many northern producers haul pig products long distances in order to meet demands from the south.
According to reports, a total of 545 pigs have already died on the two farms where the outbreak was first reported. Officials report that there are about 7,000 pigs within a 3 kilometer radius around the farm. State media Yunnan Daily reported on Monday that these pigs will be culled in order to prevent the spread of the African swine fever.
The Chinese Agriculture Ministry said on Friday that consumers should prepared themselves for surge incoming surge prices of pig products ahead of the New Year holidays. An official said that the outbreak of the African swine fever in the southern part of China will severely affect the supply chain of pig products throughout the country.
