BEIJING - China has confirmed a new
outbreak of African swine fever in the eastern province of
Anhui.
China, home to the world's largest hog herd, has reported
more than 50 cases of the highly contagious disease, including
in Anhui, since the first detected outbreak in early August.
The fever was found on a farm with 8 339 pigs in Qingyang
county in the south of Anhui, infecting 96 of the animals and
killing 47 of them, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Affairs said in a statement.
Transportation of pigs in and out of the area has been
banned, as has movement of pork products outside the area. Last
month, the ministry said it would lift African swine
fever-related restrictions in four Anhui cities hit by previous
outbreaks.
In a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Sunday,
Tangrenshen Group, a major Chinese pork producer,
said the fever was found in feed samples provided by its 51
percent-owned subsidiary, Bili Meiyingwei Nutrition Feedstuff,
during inspections in the aftermath of the Qingyang outbreak.
Tangrenshen said the origin of the detected fever remained
unclear and the matter was still under investigation. It said
the impact on its operations would be "relatively small," with
Bili Meiyingwei accounting for only 2.27% of the group's
net profit in the first nine months of 2018.