HANOI: African swine fever outbreaks are spreading in Vietnam and could affect its food supplies and put upward pressure on inflation, according to a government document.
African swine fever has for years disrupted the US$250 billion global pork market. In the worst outbreak in 2018 and 2019, about half the domestic pig population died in China, the world’s biggest producer, causing losses estimated at more than US$100 billion.
“The risk of wider spread of the disease is very high, and it can affect food supplies, consumer prices and the environment,” said the Vietnamese government document, which was dated July 14.
Vietnam had culled 42,400 infected pigs so far this year, the document said, up by nearly five times that of the same period last year.
The Southeast Asian country has this year detected 660 African swine fever outbreaks nationwide, compared with 208 outbreaks during the same period last year.
The government in the document ordered provinces to deploy measures to curb the spread, including prioritising funds for vaccinating pigs against the disease.
Vietnam, in July last year, approved the domestic commercial use of two home-grown vaccines, the world’s first commercial vaccines for the deadly disease.
In December, the World Organisation for Animal Health warned that more testing of African swine fever vaccines was needed.
Source: NST
