China is now the world's largest producer and consumer of pork
at 57 metric tons a year, more than half of the pork eaten on
the entire planet. Pork is perhaps the most important commodity
in the country. A sudden decrease in supply, and increase in
price could not only cause mass civil unrest, but also increase
the inflation rate.
The Chinese government
has built up strategic reserves of bacon since the 1970s, and
although the exact number of emergency pigs is hidden in state
secrecy, experts estimate the National Pork Reserve holds
hundreds of thousands of metric tons, both in the form of frozen
meat and live hogs.
Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean pork stock has been getting
wiped out. There is no vaccine or treatment. US pork sales to
China have doubled, while European pork prices have reached a
six-year high.
Due to a 2019 outbreak
of African swine fever, China is culling millions of pigs, and
is at risk of wiping out a quarter of the world's pork
population. To combat the shortage, the government opened its
pens and its fridges, releasing several thousand pounds of
frozen pork from its reserves in an attempt to help meet demand.