China’s swine fever problem is a national crisis, agriculture group says

The virus is a serious and disastrous issue whose economic impact will be ‘stunning’, swine industry conference told

Industry must halt its spread, restore pork production and identify alternative sources of meat, group says

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China has been battling African swine fever outbreaks since August. Photo: AP

Published: 2:23pm, 16 May 2019Updated: 3:38am, 6 Jun 2019

African swine fever, the contagious disease ravaging China’s pig herds, represents a national crisis requiring more government funding to quell, the head of an agriculture group said.

The full extent of the damage to the country’s US$128 billion pork industry is still being fathomed, and any estimate of the economic impact from the virus on the swine industry will be “stunning”, Li Xirong, director of the China Animal Agriculture Association, told more than 400 people involved in the sector at a meeting in the eastern city of Wuhan on Thursday.

The combined sixth Global Pig Forum and 16th China Swine Industry Development Conference is one of the biggest industry gatherings since the disease was first reported in the world’s largest hog-producing nation in August.

Other major international meetings – including the World Pork Expo, due to take place in Des Moines, Iowa, next month – have been cancelled over concerns that clothing on delegates from affected countries might introduce the virus, which is deadly to pigs but not known to harm humans.

Some exhibitors at the Chinese conference sold disinfectant at their booths outside the main conference hall at Wuhan’s InterContinental Hotel.