Hong Kong says China pork supply may not recover quickly
- One of city’s three slaughterhouses may close, be used to store funeral urns
Hong Kong said the supply of fresh pork from China may not recover soon as the African swine fever epidemic on the mainland curtails the availability of the popular meat.
The government has been in talks with Chinese authorities to increase the supply of fresh pork as soon as possible, but it’s not likely to “swiftly return to previous levels in the short term,” Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan wrote in a blog post on the bureau’s website this weekend.
It could be as long as a decade before China recovers from its outbreak of the deadly pig disease that is decimating hog herds, according to Cargill. The virus, which kills most infected pigs within 10 days, has already spread to most Chinese provinces.
Official reports of a 24 per cent decline for the nation’s herd are “conservative,” said John Fering, managing director for Cargill’s premix and nutrition business in the Asian nation.
Many in the market are already expecting a drop of 45 per cent in production for this year, he said.
