Pork butchers in Yilan County must take four days off per week from this week due to a nationwide pig shortage, the Yilan County Livestock and Meat Trade Association said yesterday.
Nearly 200 pork butchers operating in traditional markets in the county were forced to take additional days off beyond their usual Monday and Tuesday days off, as the swine supply has been affected by epidemic diseases and extreme weather conditions.
Friday has been listed as a non-work day since June due to a supply shortage, while Thursday was also included last week, as the Yilan County meat market could not obtain sufficient live pigs for auction
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
That means all pork butchers in the county would close four days a week and open only on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The county meat market’s live pig demand is about 420 pigs per day, and more than 60 percent are supplied from outside the county.
The average auction price of live pigs in the county was NT$100 per kilogram in mid-May, but the aggravated shortage had driven it up to a record high NT$119.64 on Friday last week — a surge of nearly NT$20 in less than three months.
The association yesterday in a statement said that pork is the most widely consumed meat in Taiwan and the shortage of live pigs has many implications.
Pork butchers were forced to take unpaid leave, while consumers were unable to buy fresh, undressed pork at any price, it said.
If the shortage continues, the shops might have to take five days off per week, the association said, adding that the authorities should help to bring the market back to normal as soon as possible.
Yilan County Agriculture Department Director Lee Hsin-tai (李新泰) on Saturday said that diarrhea killed many piglets nationwide around the beginning of this year and caused a swine shortage during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
The shortage was further exacerbated when Typhoon Danas hit Taiwan last month and devastated pig-farming facilities in central and southern Taiwan, he said.
As the swine supply capacity might not recover soon, the county government has asked the meat market to procure as many pigs as possible from pig farmers to meet consumer demand, Lee said.
The Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Animal Industry Deputy Director-General Chou Chih-hsun (周志勳) yesterday said that the supply of live pigs fell over the short-term due to extreme heat this summer, as well as disaster situations caused by the typhoon and heavy rainfall last month.
The ministry has asked Taiwan Sugar Corp to help supply an additional 650 live pigs to the county this month, and asked slaughter and cold-storage plants to reduce their purchases to stabilize pork production and supply, he said.
Data from the National Animal Industry Foundation showed that the number of live pigs traded domestically was 21,034 on Friday, at an auction price of NT$111.39 per kilogram, before dropping to 12,184 at NT$112.69 on Saturday.
Swine supplies have declined nationwide, affected not only by high temperatures in the summer, epidemic diseases and environmental concerns, but also by last month’s natural disasters, Chou said.
Pork prices are increasing due to the low supply and high demand for the upcoming Ghost Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, he said.
As the weather would improve and production would recover, pork prices are expected to return to normal in October, Chou said.
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