African Swine Fever Outbreak Expanding in Southeast Asia

(ROME, ITALY) African Swine Fever (ASF) has been confirmed in eight more Vietnamese provinces according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The outbreak has now led to the culling of more than 1.5 million pigs in Vietnam alone. Three more outbreaks were recorded last week in China, where government officials claim the loss of nearly 1.2 million head, though independent sources cite a figure nearly twice as high. ASF continues to spread in the neighboring countries of Mongolia and Cambodia as both have reported outbreaks as well – though none in over a month. The high cull rates in some of the key producing areas suggest that the extent and the severity of the outbreak in China will pose a major challenge for the rest of this year as cash pork prices are up 50 percent in China, and in the futures exchange in Chicago (CME). China accounts for about 50 percent of the global pig herd, which means that a massive decline of the country’s pig inventories will inevitably be felt abroad. This is particularly so as the disease spreads into East Asia, and is already endemic in sub-Saharan Africa as well as many countries of Central and Eastern Europe.