China closes some small slaughterhouses

The government in China announces that it will close small slaughterhouses in the country. In this way, it hopes to contain the spread of African swine fever. In addition, Rabobank and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) report that the global pig population could shrink by 25% due to the animal disease.

The Ministry of Agriculture in China wrote on Tuesday 5 November that small-scale slaughterhouses in a number of areas must close. In this way, it hopes to slow down or even eliminate the spread of African swine fever. "These slaughterhouses are often equipped with old facilities and outdated production techniques," the ministry writes, according to Reuters. "As a result, checks are not performed properly."

The Ministry of Agriculture will start assessing the slaughterhouses from mid-November. The slaughterhouses that do not meet the requirements have to close their doors. It has been more than 1 year since the animal disease first struck and now China millions cull pigs and wild boars.

Significantly fewer pigs worldwide
It is not only China that is concerned about the rate at which African swine fever is spreading, because the animal health organization OIE has also spoken out about this. According to the organization, 25% of the global pig population could disappear if the virus continues to spread at this rate. It warns that this could lead to major pork shortages. Rabobank supports the idea and expects a shortage of 2020 to 5 million tons of pork in 10.

Read all about African swine fever here.

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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