African fever torments China and its neighboring countries for months causing a tremendous effect on its hog and swine production. As the demand for swine drops to its lowest level, chicken meat prices reach its highest level within three years.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the country has an outbreak of the swine virus in more than half of its provinces and they are banning the transport of live hogs from the affected areas. Sichuan, China's largest hog producer, prohibits the entry of live hogs and hog products form the country's other regions to avoid the virus from spreading within its area.
The African swine fever has an instantaneous effect on the swine. The virus is incurable and it is most of the time fatal to the pigs. As the deadly virus spreads, Chinese are shifting from pork to poultry sending the chicken prices to its highest level. Pan Chenjun said that chicken meat is the biggest winner as pork consumption decreases. Pan is an analyst with Rabobank International in Hong Kong.
The rise in the price of the poultry products means that the food industry in the country replaced pork with chicken in their products to minimize the consumer's fear of the effect of the virus to public health. Studies, however, show that the virus only affects pigs and it is not a threat to humans.
According to Pan, the demand for chicken has increased because of the disruptions on the supply of swine products caused by the restrictions. Feng Yoghu, the chief analyst of the industry portal www.soozhu.com, said that chicken consumption in some areas is up more than 10 percent.
According to reports, prices in Shandong, the country's top producing region of the broiler, reached 9.7 yuan per kilogram this November. It is the highest price reached since March 2016. Li Jinghui, managing director of the China Poultry Association, the recent Africa swine fever outbreaks caused cafeterias and restaurants to increase the demand for chicken meat. He added that more people might choose chicken now especially in areas with cases of the virus.
The prices of products produced by poultry breeders including Fujian Sunner Development Co. Ltd and Shandong Xiantan increased significantly in August. Alice Xuan, an analyst with Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. Ltd., said that stock prices and broiler prices decreased a little bit this November since more chickens were sent to be slaughtered in preparation of the holiday season.
