Officials from China’s agriculture ministry have reported that China’s use of wheat in pig feed is expected to remain high and that the country has had 11 African swine fever outbreaks this year.
China’s use of wheat in feed is expected to stay high as the grain retains a price advantage over corn.
Wheat prices in the central province of Henan, a top producer of the grain, were $A527.73 per tonne on July 19, outstripping the price of corn at $A609.40.
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Husbandry Bureau’s Xin Guochang said China’s 11 outbreaks of African swine fever this year prompted it to cull 2216 pigs and there was a risk of the virus spreading from overseas.
“The control and prevention situation is still severe and complicated,” Mr Xin said of the disease that reached China in August 2018, and warned that the risk of its rebound persisted.
China’s herd of 439 million pigs at the end of June 2021 was 99.4 percent of the level at the end of 2017, as the country rebuilds the herd decimated by the African swine fever. The sow herd of 456.4 million at the end of June 2021 was up 102 percent on the end-2017 figure.
