Foot-and-mouth disease sees prices dive, hitting exporters, peasants

The spread of the virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease has seen meat prices nose-dive and has hit exports, and peasants, hard.

Officials have played down the seriousness of the situation as they strive to work out measures to curb the spread of the disease and boost the consumption of meat.

Relevant government departments have distributed internal instructions warning against improper handling of meat.

Reports claim the disease has spread to the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Henan, where large numbers of livestock were said to have been killed to stem the spread of the disease.

Major cities, including Xian, were particularly hard-hit and the Government had abandoned the slaughtering tax to relieve the burden on peasants.

'The price for pork has dropped from six yuan (HK$5.60) per catty to around two yuan,' said a resident of Xian.