In China, the size of pig populations has largely recovered from the decline caused by African swine fever (ASF). As recently announced by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, there were 46 million sows in the country by the end of June, more than a quarter higher than a year earlier.
The total number of pigs increased by nearly 100 million, or one-third, within a year to over 439 million animals. This means the size of China’s pig stock has grown back to the level of late 2017, before the outbreak of the swine fever.
Pork production in the People’s Republic also rose significantly in the first half of this year. According to official figures, 334 million pigs were slaughtered, an increase of 86 million pigs or 34.4%. At the same time, pork production increased to 27.2 million tons.
The ministry also reports growth in the production of other meats. Chinese beef production rose by 6.8% to 2.91 million tons compared to the first half of 2020. Poultry meat production grew by 5.8% to nearly 10.8 million tons.
According to the ministry, there have been eleven ASF outbreaks so far this year in eight provinces, resulting in the culling of 2,216 pigs. Last year, 13,500 animals were culled during 19 outbreaks.
This indicates that the number of infections in China has sharply declined, as in 2018 more than 800,000 pigs were forcibly culled in 99 cases; the following year, about 390,000 animals were affected in 63 reported outbreaks.