December 17, 2019

 

Chinese criminal gangs profiting from African swine fever

 

State media reported Chinese criminal gangs are spreading the African swine fever (ASF) disease, forcing farmers to sell swine at lower prices to smuggle and sell the pork as "healthy", reported South China Morning Post.

 

According to China Comment magazine (affiliated with state news agency Xinhua), the gangs' modus operandi includes spreading rumours of ASF and using drones to drop ASF-infected items into swine farms.

 

Gangs will leave deceased swine along the road to convince farmers that ASF is spreading in their area. The magazine reported that in extreme cases, the gangs placed infected feed into the farms.

 

Once the swine have been purchased, it is illegally transported to areas where prices are higher, even as a swine transport ban has been enforced between provinces to control the spread of ASF.

 

Profit margins can reach 1,000 RMB (~US$143; 1 RMB = US$0.14).

 

Authorities have nabbed a transport carrying 10,000 live swine, some of which infected by ASF in Yunnan province.

 

To illegally transport the swine across borders, these gangs have bribed inspectors and created fake quarantine certificates.

 

In Lichuan, Hubei, ASF spread quickly because of forged certificates for infected livestock.

 

Gangs are profiting from a price hike from dwindling meat supplies in the country because of the ASF outbreak. Pork has increased from 20 RMB (~US$2.86) per kilogramme to 52.30 RMB (~US$7.47) in November 2019.

 

Nomura reports pork prices will hit 65 to 75 RMB (~US$9.28 to US$10.71) per kilogram by late January 2020 because of Lunar New Year.

 

-      South China Morning Post