August 24, 2007

 

China's blue ear disease eases in July

 

 

China said Thursday (August 23) that 257,000 pigs in the country had been infected with blue ear disease this year as of Wednesday, up from 165,144 pigs as of July 22.

 

In July, 47,000 pigs were affected by the disease and 13,000 pigs died from it, down 51.5 percent and 35.9 percent, respectively, from June, said Ministry of Agriculture spokesman Xue Liang at a press conference.

 

The epidemic, which is less severe than in the same period last year, is under control, he said.

 

However, according to the ministry's figures, the disease, which is also known as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, may have already affected more pigs in August than in the whole of July.

 

Using the Ministry's previously published data, almost 68,000 pigs were affected by the disease from Aug. 1 to Wednesday, based on the calculation that about 189,000 pigs were affected in the first seven months.

 

China has been attempting to control the outbreak through vaccination. Around 314 million millilitres of vaccine has been allocated to farmers so far, enough to treat 100 million pigs, Xue said.

 

However, current daily vaccine production of 7 million to 10 million millilitres hasn't been enough to treat China's total 500 million pig population, said Yu Kangzhen, director of the China Institute of Veterinary Drug Control.

 

Each adult pig needs 4 millilitres of vaccine and each piglet needs 2 millilitres.

 

Farmers' confidence has recovered somewhat of late due to a series of government policies including subsidies and insurance. The number of live pigs at farms and backyards in July rose 7.3 percent from a year earlier, and increased 2.1 percent from June, Xue said.

 

Sales of pig feedmeal last month increased 6 percent on year, and rose 5.2 percent from June, he added.

 

Despite the tight pork supply, China, the world's biggest pork producer with more than half of the world's total production, still exported more pork than it imported, said Wang Zhicai, chief of the livestock husbandry department under the MOA.

 

"It's impossible (for China) to import pork in large amounts," he said.

 

China exported about 90,000 tonnes of fresh and frozen pork during the first seven months, down 40 percent on year, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.