PORK CRISIS IN CHINA PROMPTS CONCERNS

A disease killing millions of pigs in China has sharply lifted the price of pork, the country's staple meat, fuelling fears about inflation and prompting calls from Beijing's top leadership for increased production of the meat.
Wen Jiabao, the premier, provided confirmation of the seriousness of the crisis with a weekend visit to a market in Shaanxi, where he said farmers should help “resolve the problem” of providing meat for China's 1.3bn people.
Pork prices have risen by as much as 30 per cent in Chinese cities over the last week. According to the agriculture ministry, wholesale prices for pigs have gone up even more, rising 71.3 per cent since April.
China's 500m-odd pigs are the country's most important source of affordable meat, and any sustained interruption in supply would be a major political problem for the government.
While the price of feed, such as corn, has risen, the main culprit is an epidemic of a mysterious illness known as ‘blue ear' disease, as well as the more common foot-and-mouth affliction.
“I have heard it has killed as many as 20m hogs,” an industry executive said yesterday.
The government has not issued any estimate of how many pigs have been struck by disease and China's size and the number of small producers make it difficult quickly to obtain reliable figures.
But the impact of the shortage of pork is apparent in many areas, from sausage makers switching meats, to rising offal prices, and attempts by Hong Kong to import meat from South America.
China cannot easily find competitively priced pork to replace the shortfall at home, because of its own health-related restrictions on imports from South America, where prices are relatively low. US and European pork is relatively expensive.

“猪瘟”导致中国猪肉价格大幅上涨

一场疾病导致中国数百万头生猪死亡，使得猪肉价格大幅上涨，这加剧了人们对通货膨胀的担忧，并促使中国政府高层领导人呼吁增加猪肉生产。猪肉是中国的主要肉类。
中国国务院总理温家宝上周末走访了陕西一个市场，这证明了此次危机的严重性。他在那里表示，解决13亿人的吃肉问题还得靠农民。
上周期间，中国城市猪肉价格涨幅高达30%。农业部称，猪肉批发价的涨幅甚至更大，自4月份以来上升了71.3%。
中国的5亿多头生猪是中国最重要的食用肉来源，任何供应的持续中断，都会给政府带来重大的政治问题。
虽然玉米等饲料价格有所上涨，但罪魁祸首还是一种神秘的“蓝耳”病的流行，以及更常见的口蹄疫传染。
一位业内管理人士昨日表示：“我听说这已导致多达2000万头生猪死亡。”
中国政府还没有就感染疾病的生猪数目发布任何估计数值，中国小生产者的规模和数量，使其很难迅速获得可靠的数字。
但在许多领域猪肉短缺的影响非常明显，从加工肉类的香肠制造商，到不断上涨的猪下水价格，以及香港打算从南美进口肉类的举动，都说明了这一点。
中国无法轻易找到价格上有竞争力的猪肉，来弥补国内这种短缺，因为中国对南美进口肉类有自己的卫生限制。南美进口猪肉价格相对较低，美国和欧洲猪肉则相对较贵。