THE government will release 10,000 tons of pork from its central reserves tomorrow in a bid to stabilize soaring pork prices and cope with a swine fever that has wiped out roughly one-third of its pigs.

The frozen pork will be auctioned online tomorrow afternoon, China Merchandise Reserve Management Center, a State-owned company that manages the reserves, said in a statement Tuesday.

The pork is imported from the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, France and Chile. Major suppliers include American firms Smithfield, Clemens Food and Seaboard, as well as Denmark’s Danish Crown.

The order to release the reserves came from several government bodies including the Ministry of Commerce and the Agricultural Development Bank of China, the reserve management center said.

Companies interested in the online auction need to sign up with the center in advance and be vetted by the commerce ministry beforehand. Each bidder can only buy up to 300 tons.

China Merchandise Reserve Management Center stores and manages China’s reserves of resources that the country considers strategically important, including frozen pork, live pigs, other frozen meat and sugar.

China has lost more than 100 million pigs in the past 12 month, which has driven pork prices up.

At least four Chinese cities or provinces that are home to roughly 130 million people have already released some of their local reserves of frozen pig meat in the past few weeks. But tomorrow will be the first time since January that the Central Government has tapped into its reserves.(SD-Agencies)