According to Chinese customs data dated May 23, last month, China imported 136,517 tons of pork, up 24% from the same month a year earlier.

The reason for this is the creation of stocks by the world's largest meat consumer amid concerns over the impending shortage of this product.

This is the largest monthly volume since September 2016, that year pork imports exceeded 140,000 tons. Since then, the import indicator of this product has reached such a high level only once - in March 2018, when 135,900 tons were purchased abroad.

The data of the Main Customs Administration cover only “pure pork meat”, but do not record the import of pork legs, heads and other offal, which China also purchases in large volumes.

In total, in the first four months of 2019, China imported 470,776 tons of pork, which is 8.4% more than last year. Growth in imports followed the spread of African swine fever virus in all provinces of mainland China from last August, which, according to some estimates, led to a reduction in the number of pigs to 200 million.

It is expected that pork production in the domestic market of China in 2019 will be reduced by at least 30 percent, so at the beginning of this year, importers began to buy supplies from abroad.