China's agriculture ministry reported a new African swine fever outbreak in Guangdong city of Huizhou, a third outbreak report in just a week. The spread of the disease in China's north border caused almost 20 mainland Chinese pig farms to suspend deliveries to Hong Kong and Macau.
The mainland has reported at least 92 outbreaks of the fever in its farms since early August. The first reported outbreak was detected in Liaoning province. According to the China News Service, a state news agency, the virus affected 23 provinces of regions killing at least 630, 000 pigs. Despite the outbreak, business insiders claimed that the prices of pork will rise this festive period.
China's National General Administration of Customs revealed on Tuesday that 18 of 154 mainland farms that supply pigs to Hong Kong and Macau canceled the distribution of their products outside of China. the report of the agency showed that four of 17 affected farms in Guangdong province stopped their export because they are within the infected area. The rest of the farms also stopped sending their products outside the border since they are near the affected areas. A farm in Hubei province also halted its production outside the border.
According to the report of the agriculture ministry, a new outbreak of the deadly virus occurred in Guangdong city of Huizhou which resulted in the death of 11 out of 90 pigs in a farm. The outbreak in Huizhou was followed by other cases of the outbreak. The outbreak in Guangdong is the third report of the spread of the virus within a week.
According to a government spokeswoman, the affected farm in Guangdong is not authorized to deliver pigs to Hong Kong. She also said that there were no reports of the virus since Tuesday. She said that about 3,500 to 4, 000 live pigs are supplied from the mainland to Hong Kong on a daily basis. There was also no sign of infection in the city since Tuesday night.
Chinese local officials are heightening their preventive measures. They banned farmers from feeding swill of animal origin to pigs. They also encouraged proper hygiene at farms. The Vice-chairman at the Hong Kong Livestock Industry Association, Lam Wing-yuen, expects that prices of pork in the city will remain flat in the following week due to the steady pork supply.
