Swine fever adds to China’s latest economic headaches

BEIJING—Chinese pig farmers, already reeling from rising feed costs in Beijing’s tariff fight with U.S. President Donald Trump, face a new blow from an outbreak of African swine fever that has sent an economic shockwave through the countryside.

First detected in August, the disease has killed 1 million pigs, prompting authorities to restrict shipments of most of China’s 700 million swine, even though nearly all are still healthy. That has disrupted supplies of pork, China’s staple meat, to big cities while prices collapsed in areas with an oversupply of pigs that farmers are barred from shipping to other provinces.

“I can only manage to break even at the current price,” said a breeder on the outskirts of Shenyang, northeast of Beijing, where the first case was reported Aug. 3. She said she was rearing about 100 pigs and would give only her surname, Yan.

“Unless we see a higher price for pigs, all my work this year would have gone for nothing,” Yan said.

African swine fever doesn’t affect humans but is highly contagious in pigs, making it a serious threat to farm areas.

On Friday, the first cases were reported in Beijing, the capital. Authorities said a total of 86 pigs at two farms in suburban Fangshan district died.

Also Friday, Xiamen Airlines, a mid-size Chinese carrier, announced it was suspending use of pork in in-flight meals.

The outbreak adds to a swarm of challenges for Chinese leaders as they grapple with Trump over Beijing’s technology policy and try to shore up cooling growth in the world’s second-largest economy.