BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs said Tuesday that outbreaks of African swine fever had been contained.
A total of 17 cases of African swine fever were reported during the first quarter this year, compared with 74 cases in the fourth quarter last year. The country also ended blockades in 23 provincial-level regions, Wang Junxun, an official with the ministry, said at a press conference.
Since the disease's outbreak in August last year, China had reported a total of 129 cases, and culled 1.02 million pigs.
Affected by the epidemic, the pork supply fell 5.2 percent year on year to 14.63 million tonnes during the first quarter.
The average prices of live pigs jumped to 15.15 yuan (2.26 U.S. dollars) per kilo during the first week of April, up from 12.91 yuan per kilo a month earlier.
"This shows that prices of live pigs have stepped into a rising cycle ahead of schedule," Wang said.
He expected hog production to fall and supplies of live pigs to be tight, saying that the price of live pigs in the fourth quarter may exceed the record levels of 2016.
