Questions about the severity of African Swine Fever are causing a large amount of debate within the livestock industry in China.
Recently a brokerage firm published a report claiming ASF was making a strong comeback and a new cycle of ASF was approaching.
Others in the industry felt the report overstated the problem. Several hog analysts said the problem could be slightly worse than last year but there wasn’t a large-scale outbreak.
The spread of African Swine Fever in the country is difficult to assess as the last official report of an outbreak from the Ministry of Agriculture was nearly two years ago.
Large operations have improved their biosecurity since the initial outbreak and have developed methods to hopefully remove infected hogs quickly. Additionally, many firms have focused on vertical integration. This includes on-site feed mills and piglet breeding to reduce potential sources of the virus entering their operations.
Earlier this week, Wens Group told investors that outbreaks of African Swine Fever had contributed to an increase in its cost of production.
Muyuan, the largest hog producer, told investors on Wednesday that it was not experiencing any concentrated infections of pigs and its operations were normal.