CHINA’S pork imports in the first two months of 2020 surged 158 percent from a year earlier to 560,000 tons, customs data showed yesterday, as the world’s top consumer brought in large supplies ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in January.

The jump came even after the clearing of frozen goods at ports slowed sharply in February because of the COVID-19 epidemic that has killed over 3,000 people in China and kept millions more at home in quarantine.

China is facing a severe shortage of pork after the fatal pig disease African swine fever devastated its hog herd, reducing its sow inventory by as much as 60 percent in 2019, according to some estimates.

Pork output fell 21 percent last year to a 16-year low, official data showed, and hogs last week cost six times those in the United States at about 37 yuan (US$5.22) per kg.

Strong imports in the first two months of 2020 follows a monthly record of 270,000 tons in December.

The surge exacerbated a shortage of space to plug in refrigerated containers at ports when staff failed to return from work to unload cargoes because of quarantine measures.

In mid-February, about 10,000 refrigerated cargo containers containing meat were stuck in Chinese ports, according to a Beijing-based meat importer, about twice the usual level.

Some of the imported meat is likely destined for State reserves which need to be topped up, as the government auctions off its stockpiles on an almost weekly basis to keep a lid on prices.

(SD-Agencies)