FILE PHOTO: A police officer checks a truck transporting pigs on a highway in Shanghai, China, January 12, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
September 12, 2018
BEIJING (Reuters) – China has banned the transport of live hogs from 10 regions bordering the six provinces that have reported African swine fever outbreaks in recent weeks, which should tighten supplies and roil prices in the world’s top pork consumer.
Live markets will also be shut in the regions, according to a notice by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs dated Sept. 11 and sent to animal disease control centers in the areas.
Two government agencies that received the notice confirmed its authenticity to Reuters.
The affected areas include the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Jilin, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hubei and Shaanxi as well as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the city of Shanghai.
African swine fever is a highly contagious disease that cannot be cured and there is no vaccine to prevent it. It can also be transmitted in pork products, animal feed or by people.
(Reporting by Dominique Patton and Hallie Gu; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
