Blue-ear pig disease affected 22,634 pigs in 32 counties in 11 Chinese provinces between July 1 and 22, killing 6,433 and requiring the culling of 15,728, an official with the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) said on Wednesday.

The official told a news briefing that the number of cases had declined from the previous month but did not provide any figures to support his claim.

The MOA said that from the beginning of January 1 to July 22, 165,144 pigs in 25 provinces were infected with the disease, of which 45,546 died and 42,728 were culled.

Li Jinxiang, an inspector with the Veterinary Bureau under the MOA, said, compared with last month, the number of disease-hit counties, dead pigs and culled pigs were all declining thanks to increased supplies of vaccines and financial aid from the MOA.

According to Li, about 150 million milliliters of the vaccine have been used to curb the spread of the pig disease by July 25. Another 250 million milliliters would be produced in August. The MOA has already allocated 10.8 million yuan (about US$1.43 million) to finance affected areas.

On the current tight market supply of pigs and the price hike of pork, Li said the supply was expected to increase early next year and the pork price would remain at a relatively high level in the near future.

(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2007)