Quarter of world's pig population to die of African swine fever — int'l monitor

MANILA, Philippines — The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) warned that the spread of African swine fever has worsened into what they call a worldwide crisis. 

Because of the worsening state of the crisis, global prices for pork exports around the world are increasing at an unprecedented rate, due in part to the situation in China, where half the world's population resides and where some 100 million pigs have already been culled due to ASF.

Pig World editor Alistair Driver surmised that the crisis of ASF within Asia alone would have an impact that would be felt globally. Even officials of the Philippine central bank at a media briefing warned of a possible risk to inflation in 2020 amid the situation in Asia.

“[G]iven the enormous losses so far and the continued spread of the virus across China and other Asian countries, there will be a huge deficit in pork production for the foreseeable future," he was quoted saying in a Guardian report.

“There have been suggestions recently from the Chinese government and industry representatives that the Chinese pig herd is ‘bottoming out’ and that we could see a recovery to something like previous levels in 2020."

According to OIE, the ASF virus is one that is contagious to pigs but has no adverse effects on human health.

Although not harmful to humans, groups the world over are bracing for the economic effects of this. Dr. Mark Schipp, vice-president of the OIE, said at a press conference this week that ASF was “the biggest threat to any commercial livestock of our generation.”

Close to home 

Recent reports of contaminated pork products prompted a voluntary recall by processed meat manufacturer Mekeni Food Corp of their products. 

Even food company Purefoods-Hormel Co., one of the largest in the country, released a statement of their own, assuring consumers that their ingredients come from farms strictly supervised by the San Miguel Foods conglomerate and "observe the highest level of bio-security measures while the imported materials come from ASF-free countries."

READ: African swine fever is now in the Philippines. Should you be alarmed?

The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. decided in late October to stop buying local pork, a move the Department of Trade and Industry said might warrant government intervention. Agriculture officials also said that the Philippine hog industry was losing $20 million per month due to the outbreak of ASF. 

However Rosendo So, chairman of leading agriculture group Samahan ng Industriyang Agrikultura, on Friday said that the public need not be concerned as nearly all the hogs afflicted with the disease have already been culled.

In early October, the number of hog deaths connected to the fever ballooned to 36,000 as the affliction spread throughout the country.