China has culled 916,000 pigs after around 100 outbreaks of African swine fever in the country, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday, as the disease continues to spread to new regions and larger farms. The disease has reached 24 provinces and regions since the first outbreak in August, roiling trade in the world’s top pork market and related sectors. China slaughtered almost 700M pigs in 2017.
According to Guang Defu (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs spokesman), liquidation by small farmers and the slow restocking and expansion of larger farms could reduce China’s pig herd by about 20 percent in 2019. The effect of the swine fever outbreak is spilling over to animal feed markets. China’s soymeal futures plunged almost 3 percent on Monday, following a fresh outbreak on a large breeding farm announced on Saturday.
Source: reuters.com.
