China’s diners must pay more for their favourite meat or forgo pork at mid-autumn as swine fever decimates supply
- The price of pork – steamed, fried, barbecued, boiled, stewed and cooked in a myriad of ways – jumped 46.7 per cent in August compared with last year
- African swine fever, which is harmless to humans, is deadly for pigs, destroying 32.2 per cent of China’s hogs in July
Expensive pork, which makes up two-thirds of the annual meat consumption for the average non-Muslim Chinese household by one estimate, is forcing consumers to make hard choices: pay more, or eat less of the meat.
“My mother ended up buying chicken, when the price of her pork ribs jumped to 51 yuan a kilogram the other day, from 30 yuan a few months ago,” said Sophie Yu, a Beijing office worker. “The local supermarket saleslady said pork price has been rising every day. But nobody is complaining, and the meat portions in the restaurants have not shrunk.”
Since a pig’s life cycle lasts from 12 to 14 months before it is old enough for slaughter, it takes at least a year before more supply can be brought to market and for prices to stabilise, according to Daiwa Capital Markets’ economists.