China pork crisis

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

A tech bro with a steady, well-paid job is the latest person to get caught stealing pork in the south of China, as prices soar in the country due to the spread of African swine fever. The man, surnamed Guo, admitted stealing 4.4 pounds of pork left unattended in a woman’s bike basket in the city of Foshan. It was the latest in a rash of reports about petty thefts of the staple as an epidemic devastates pig herds across the country. According to surveillance camera footage posted online, the shopper, a woman surnamed Ma, put two plastic shopping bags into her bike’s front basket before walking away. A man standing nearby with his bike watched her and took a bag of pork, valued at about $14,