China’s Pig Crisis Is Pushing Up Bacon Prices Worldwide
By Jason Gale
October 20, 2019, 5:00 AM GMT+7
- African swine fever will wipe out hundreds of millions of pigs
- Global pig-meat index is headed for steepest jump in 15 years
Photographer: adogslifephoto/iStockphotoLISTEN TO ARTICLE
Bringing home the bacon will cost more. Blame African swine fever.
The deadly pig disease is wiping out hundreds of millions of hogs, mostly in China, driving a global surge in pork and bacon prices from Auckland to Vancouver. In Europe, swine carcasses have soared 31% and piglets 56% in the past year. Pig-meat is poised for the steepest jump since mad cow disease and bird flu outbreaks in 2004 led consumers to eat more pork, according to an index compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome.
Pork is heading for the steepest annual increase in 15 years
“It doesn’t matter where you are in the world at the moment, pork prices are up,” said Justin Sherrard, Rabobank’s Utrecht-based global animal-protein strategist, in a telephone interview. “China is the market to focus on. Firstly, because it’s big and, secondly, because this is really the first place that African swine fever started to hit.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ices-worldwide