According to preliminary data issued by the country's General Administration of Customs last week. The state exported a total of 930,000 pigs during the first seven months, down 4 per cent from a year earlier.

China has been suffering from a pork shortage since the beginning of this year, due partly to an outbreak of blue ear disease. Pork prices have surged as a result and local market analysts say that recent research indicates that the country is likely to buy more pork from overseas countries in the future. The trend is likely to follow on from recent imports of between 20,000-30,000 metric tons of pork.