China’s Pigs to Take Half a Decade to Recover From Killer Virus
- Imports won’t be enough to make up the shortfall: Rabobank
- Even then, China’s pork sales to lose market share to poultry
Pig carcasses hang from a conveyor at a pork wholesale market on the outskirts of Shanghai, China.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
China’s pig herd will take more than half a decade to recover from a deadly virus, and even then the nation’s meat consumption won’t be the same as before, according to Rabobank International.
The world’s biggest pork market won’t stabilize from the damage inflicted by African swine fever until 2025 and meat imports can’t make up the shortfall, the bank said. China’s hog herd has more than halved to less than 200 million since the first case was reported in August last year, the bank said.