September 14, 2007

China to ensure sufficient pork supply for upcoming holidays

China would have a sufficient supply of pork ahead of a pair of holidays that would likely see a surge in meat consumption, the Commerce Ministry said on Thursday (Sep 14).

Two major holidays in China are nearly a week apart this year. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Sep 25, followed by a week-long National Day holiday starting Oct. 1.

Besides having to contend with pork diseases, China's authorities also have to clamp down on illegal slaughterhouses and vendors injecting meat with water to make it heavier.

The commerce bureaus of local governments would take active measures and work on plans to deal with any emergency, Commerce Ministry spokesman Wang Xinpei said.

Despite four consecutive drops in pork prices in recent weeks, prices are still more than 70 percent above last year's levels.

Authorities are having success dealing with the blue ear disease, which was believed to have caused the surge in pork prices as it infected hundreds of thousands of pigs.

The pig population is increasing and there is less possibility for the pork prices to stay high in the long run, Yin Chengjie, vice agricultural minister, told a news conference.

Wang said the ministry was working to ensure that provinces with high pork consumption would have adequate supplies, and that it was using government reserves to ease bottlenecks, especially in areas affected by the recent flooding.