Source: Keith Good, FARM POLICY NEWS, UNIV. OF ILLINOIS, 3/27/19


A Wall Street Journal article Wednesday stated that, “Hog prices have surged in recent weeks on signs that Chinese buyers have turned to the U.S. to make up for the dwindling of China’s pig herds because of African swine fever.”  Today’s update explores this development in greater detail.

Background
A report earlier this month (China- Livestock and Products Semi-annual) from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) stated that, “African Swine Fever outbreaks continue in China, affecting all aspects of the swine and pork industry. China has reported 115 ASF outbreaks to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), covering all commercially significant swine producing regions.  While it is still unclear if ASF outbreaks will continue to be reported with the same frequency and geographic distribution, the disease has already taken a toll on China’s swine and pork production for 2019.

For more of this story, click here.