African swine fever

Pig farms in China are fighting a high-tech war with gangsters reportedly plotting to profit off a national pork crisis. A pig farm in northeastern China deployed anti-drone equipment following rumors that gangs were trying to spread African swine fever by airdropping the virus into farms. The goal was to scare farmers into selling their livestock at a discount. African swine fever poses no risk to human health but is fatal to pigs. The disease has reduced China’s hog herds by over 40% due to mass culls designed to stop further spreading of the disease. The Chinese authorities uncovered the use of anti-drone devices after a number of pilots complained about losing GPS signals while flying ov

Handing out servings of expensive pork as a reward for opening an account is the latest gimmick being used by a growing number of small local banks across China to lure new depositors. The fact that pork could be seen as a desirable reward for opening a bank account speaks to the country’s massive shortage of its favorite staple meat. On Monday, clients who deposited $1,430 or more in a three-month time deposit at the Linhai Rural Commercial Bank in Duqiao in Zhejiang province were then eligible to enter a lottery to win a portion of pork ranging from one to ten pounds. “The money is still my own, and the interest is good. I’m happy to receive a piece of pork in addition,” one female client,

Chinese criminals have been exploiting the country’s African swine fever crisis by intentionally spreading the disease, or misinformation about the disease, to upsell pork, state media has reported.  The gangs use strong-arm tactics to force farmers to sell their pigs for a low price before smuggling the meat to other parts of China. They use forgery and bribery to resell it as healthy stock at a markup. Sometimes the gangs spread rumors about the virus, but in more extreme cases they use drones to drop infected items into farms, according to an investigation by the magazine China Comment, which is affiliated to state news agency Xinhua. African swine fever is not a risk to human health, b

Like most small restaurants in this rural part of Wanan county in the eastern province of Jiangxi, the Little Wealth God does not have a menu. Diners go directly to the kitchen to pick vegetables, fish and raw meat, and let the chef know how they would like them cooked. But due to its spiraling price, China’s most popular meat, pork, is nowhere to be seen. Instead, many locals are opting for a traditional dish that had lost appeal until recently. “Why not choose dog meat if you want some meat?” the waiter recommended, adding high prices meant most diners no longer felt it worthwhile to order pork. Renewed interest in dog meat is just one of the side-effects that a massive pork shortage, cau

Pork is a Chinese national staple. But as African swine fever has ravaged hog farms, the average price of pork has almost doubled. The government has responded by releasing pork reserves to the markets and offering subsidies to some farmers hit by the nationwide epidemic.  Some farmers, however, are still feeling the pain.

With pork prices in China spiking in recent months, a food company thinks now is the perfect time to convince the world’s largest pork consumer to try something new: fake pork. Since last August, a deadly swine epidemic has left 40% of China’s pigs dead or culled. Financial service firm Rabobank estimates China could lose half of its pig herd by the end of 2019. Despite China’s move to release emergency pork reserves to the markets, pork prices have jumped close to 50% since July, according to China’s agriculture department. Hong Kong-based Omnipork, a plant-based meat producer, sees a “good window of opportunity” as consumers and restaurants look for pork alternatives. David Yeung, co-foun

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that we’re in the Year of the Pig. Rarely has a single food source played as big a role in the nation’s politics as now. Fears over a year-long outbreak of deadly African swine fever have steadily grown to the point that the topic now dominates the nation’s domestic and foreign agenda with talk of “pork politics,” “pork economics” and “pork diplomacy.” There’s good reason for the fuss. Pork is the principal source of dietary protein for the Chinese, who consume half the world’s supply. Since the virus was discovered at a farm not far from China’s border with Russia in August last year, it has spread to all 31 mainland provinces and up to 200 million pigs – nearl

A swine fever epidemic has spread to all parts of China, decimating the country’s hog industry and disrupting Chinese dinner tables. The island province of Hainan has confirmed its first cases of African swine fever, meaning the pig-killing virus has spread to all 31 mainland Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions since the first infection in the country was confirmed in August. The spread of African swine fever has disrupted the supply of pork in China, which raises about half the world's pigs. Financial services firm Rabobank estimates that China is set to lose up to 200 million pigs to the disease or culling, and there is not enough pork in "the whole world combined" to

The world is running out of pork to feed Chinese people, as a swine fever epidemic sweeps across China’s pig farms. Financial services firm Rabobank says there’s not enough pork in “the whole world combined” to fill the potential supply shortfall that will hit China later this year. China is the world’s biggest pork producer and consumer. A staple food in most Chinese families, pork makes up 60% of the total meat consumption in China. However, the country is set to lose up to 200 million pigs to disease or slaughter during the African swine fever epidemic, almost three times the pig population in the United States, according to analysts. “A lot of herd will disappear due to infection and li