China will need to import pork for three or four more years, according a a report from the University of Missouri’s Food & Agriculture Policy Research Institute.
That’s because African Swine Fever continues to plague the Chinese hog-producing sector and delay full recovery of the national hog population.
The institute said China's pork imports are estimated to exceed three million tonnes per year until 2024 because production will remain below pre-1918 levels until 2025 and consumption until 2016.
“[T]he global markets were expected to start recovering from ASF in 2021,” the researchers wrote. “However, recent outbreaks in China suggest that it may be a few more years until sow and hog herds return to pre-2018 levels.”
