China tapping national pork reserves will not satisfy shortage of the culturally symbolic meat, analysts warn

Use of national reserves shows how deeply crisis has shaken China, where pork is crucial part of the diet and symbol of well-being

The nation is in the grip of an African swine fever epidemic that could wipe out half its pig population by the end of the year, analysts warn

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China is in the grip of an African swine fever epidemic that could wipe out half its pig population by the end of the year, with officials also scrambling to ratchet up pork imports to help fill the gap. Photo: AP

Published: 8:30pm, 6 Sep 2019Updated: 8:44pm, 6 Sep 2019

China has begun to tap its national pork reserves, a sign of Beijing’s urgency to curb widespread discontent over the sharp spike in pork prices, but analysts warn that stocks are nowhere near big enough to keep the popular meat on dinner tables across the country.

China is in the grip of an African swine fever epidemic that could wipe out half its pig population by the end of the year, with officials also scrambling to ratchet up pork imports to help fill the gap.

The government’s tapping of the national reserve is evidence of how deeply the crisis has shaken China, where pork is not only a crucial part of the diet, but also a symbol of a family’s well-being.

“Securing the supply [of pork] affects people’s livelihoods and overall situation,” vice-premier Hu Chunhua said last week, adding that Beijing would use all means at its disposal to keep the supply flowing.

The meat reserve scheme was created in 1996 to help stabilise food prices during emergencies. Both the national and provincial governments keep pork reserves, which are tapped when the supply is threatened.

The central government announced at the end of August that it would start to release frozen pork reserves into the market, but local governments started acting earlier. The Hainan provincial government has been injecting frozen pork into the market since August 28 and plans to release 1,520kg before September 12. Cities in the Guangxi autonomous region and Fujian province are also believed to have started to eat into their pork reserves.

However, even combined with imports, this will not fill the gap left by African swine fever, in a country where every person consumes the equivalent of half a pig each year, according to Zhang Lichen, at the state-owned Heilongjiang Agricultural Investment Corporation.