FILE PHOTO: Pigs are seen at a family farm in Fuyang, Anhui province, China July 5, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
July 15, 2019
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s pig herd shrank 25.8% in June compared with the same month a year earlier, while the sow herd contracted 26.7%, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Monday.
The huge drop in numbers comes amid a severe epidemic of African swine fever (ASF), deadly to pigs but not harmful to humans, that has swept through the world’s top pork producer over the last year.
But some farming industry executives estimate that as much as half of China’s sows have either died from ASF or been slaughtered because of the spreading disease, much higher than the official numbers.
(Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
