China reports 18,000 pig deaths from disease outbreak

BEIJING, June 4 (Reuters) China said a contagious pig disease had killed 18,000 in the first five months of 2007, in Beijing's first report on the scale of an outbreak that has disrupted the pig industry and caused pork prices to soar.

A report on the agriculture ministry Web site (www.agri.gov.cn) said the blue ear disease outbreak had infected 45,000 pigs through May, with 18,000 having died.

It was the first official assessment since an outbreak of the disease a year ago killed what feed industry officials estimate at as many as 1 million pigs.

The ministry did not say how many pigs had died last year but noted the highly contagious disease had ''caused heavy losses to the pig breeding industry''.

The widespread disease has partly contributed to the soaring domestic pork prices -- and has put pressure on national inflation levels -- prompting Premier Wen Jiabao to visit a pig farm last month where he pledged to ensure meat supplies for the poor.

The disease, caused by a variation of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus, was still being found among pigs in some provinces, according to the ministry. It did not elaborate.

The ministry urged all local governments to boost vaccination efforts and to take more preventive measures to stop the spread of the disease.

In a separate report, the agriculture minister, Sun Zhengcai, toured the northern province of Shandong and urged local governments to encourage farmers to raise more pigs.

''Hog production and supply not only relate to the people's life and farmers' income, but a situation as a whole,'' Sun was quoted as saying in a report posted on the ministry Web site.

Since the outbreak, many farmers have been unwilling to breed more pigs for fear of losing money because of the high mortality rate from the disease and because of high feed prices.

REUTERS LPB BD0926