Market News & Headlines >> China to Take Tougher African Swine Fever Measures

China will take tough steps to wipe out African swine fever (ASF) and will crack down on any behavior that delays or covers up cases of the disease from being reported, a senior official at the agricultural ministry told Reuters News Service on Monday. 

"(China) will need to improve hog-breeding management and animal biosafety management levels, as well as strengthening disease controls at pig farms," Yu Kangzhen, a vice agriculture minister, said on Monday. 

Yu also urged local authorities to crack down on unsupervised animal slaughtering and to prevent meat from animals that had died from the disease from filtering into the market. 

China on Friday confirmed the first case of ASF in Sichuan province, the country's leading hog producing region. Officials on Friday also reported the disease had been found in a wild boar in northern China. The presence of ASF in China’s sizeable wild boar population suggests the disease will be even more difficult to control than was previously anticipated. 

Two new cases of ASF were reported on Monday at small farms in Heilongjiang province in northeastern China. The outbreaks were found on two farms with a total of 900 pigs in the city of Harbin, with 269 pigs confirmed to have died from ASF, China’s agriculture ministry said.