An estimated '150-200 million pigs' have been affected by a global plague of biblical proportions

This affects French pork producers who have the wind in their sails in China (51% export increase in one year). But given the size of the market that China represents, this risks having global side effects on other foods (especially beef).

African swine fever is the greatest threat to global food production we have seen since the end of World War II. As you will see below, the disease has now spread "to all provinces in mainland China", and it has infected "about 150-200 million pigs". To put that number into perspective, that's more hogs than the entire US pork industry produces in an entire year. In other words, the equivalent of the entire American pork industry has just been wiped out. Additionally, African swine fever has also spread to Cambodia, Tibet, Romania, South Africa, and Vietnam. The losses are staggering and the crisis continues to worsen as the weeks go by.

Earlier today I came across a Canadian news article titled "Why bacon could get a lot more expensive", and in this article, a Canadian expert claimed that there were "tens of millions of pigs that have disappeared" in China...

"The meat of choice in China is pork and disease has been devastating for them," Friendship said. "They've lost a lot of pigs and they're going to slaughter a lot of them."

He noted that although official figures from China suggest the outbreak's effect has been minimal, experts believe "we are dealing with tens of millions of pigs that have gone missing."

Friendship estimated that the decline in hog numbers is roughly equivalent to what Canada and the United States produce together. And this lack has created a void.

This assertion is consistent with the information which I published in an article on this crisis a few weeks ago, but I decided to go hunting for even more recent numbers.

So I ended up on PorkBusiness.com, and according to them African Swine Fever”now affects around 150 to 200 million pigs" in China...

Production losses from African swine fever (ASF) eclipsed initial estimates, Rabobank said on Thursday. In 2019, Rabobank expects Chinese pig production losses of 25-35%., creating new challenges and opportunities for animal protein exporters.

"African swine fever has spread to all provinces of mainland China and now affects between 150 and 200 million pigs, said Christine McCracken, animal protein analyst at RaboResearch. "The projected loss of 30% of pork production is unprecedented. These losses cannot be easily replaced by other proteins such as chicken, duck and seafood, and larger imports of pork will not be able to fully compensate for these losses.

When I use the term "plague", I don't use it lightly. I have never heard of a single disease that wiped out so many farm animals before.

You did it ?

This is perhaps an absolutely crushing blow to the global food supply.

And pork prices are already starting to skyrocket. The following is taken from the same Canadian article as the one i mentioned earlier...

At the start of 2019, Canadian farmers were earning $150 for every pig shipped to market, but they are now earning between $220 and $225, he says.

Since it was first detected on a small-scale pig farm in northern China last August, African swine fever has spread like wildfire, but it has yet to reach the United States. United.

And American farmers are doing everything they can to prevent that from happening because African swine fever can have a fatality rate."up to 100% in 2-10 days"....

African swine fever is a highly contagious viral disease that causes death in domestic and feral pigs of all ages. Symptoms include high fever, decreased appetite and weakness, red, blotchy skin or skin lesions, diarrhea and vomiting, coughing and difficulty breathing. The mortality rate can reach 100% in 2 to 10 days.

Even if a pig survives African swine fever, it is often slaughtered anyway to help prevent the disease from spreading.

There is no vaccine, and there is no cure. And even if this outbreak ended immediately, it would likely take many years for China's pork industry to recover. The following comes from CNN...

“China normally accounts for 49% of global pork consumption and 28% of global meat supply,” said Arlan Suderman, chief commodity economist at INTL FCStone. "So this is a big deal for China, and we expect it will be five to seven years before production can be restored."

Of course, this outbreak is unlikely to end in the near future. In fact, all experts expect African swine fever to continue to spread.

Pork prices will therefore continue to soar, and chicken and beef prices will also rise aggressively as many consumers turn to pork alternatives.

Unfortunately, most people still don't seem to understand what we're up against. In this country, most Americans party instead to prepare, and that is a huge mistake.

And the mainstream media is certainly not helping. Millions upon millions of pigs are really dying all over the world, and yet this crisis is barely noticeable on our major news networks.

We'll see what will happen. Hopefully the outbreak will calm down and things will get back to normal.

But so far, that hasn't happened, and African swine fever continues to spread.

If it starts spreading in North America too, there is going to be a lot of panic and the mainstream media will be forced to start giving this story a lot of attention.

Over the next few months, pork stocks will get tighter and tighter, and prices will skyrocket.

We have never faced a crisis like this, and no one knows exactly what will happen next.

About the author: Michael Snyder is a national writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End et Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream et The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other major websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please do so. The more people who see this information the better, and we need to wake up more people while there is still time.

Source (s): Theeconomiccollapseblog.com