A serious outbreak of African swine fever is threatening China's 400-million pigs and the country may have to import to supplement supplies. Picture: SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES
Recent statistics suggest that the Chinese meat industry is booming, with more than one-million tonnes of meat imported by the Asian giant in 2018, making it the world’s largest market for beef products. The disease has spread across Asia. To date, China has culled just over 1.1-million pigs in an effort to halt further spread. Vietnam culled a further 500,000 pigs over the past two weeks to tackle the outbreak, taking the total killed so far to 1.7-million, or 5% of the country's herd, the country’s agriculture ministry said on Monday. Pork accounts for three-quarters of total meat consumption in Vietnam.
Foot-and-mouth disease broke out in Limpopo in January, resulting in the World Organisation for Animal Health temporarily suspending SA’s foot-and-mouth disease-free zone status.