Estimate: 500,000 Tons of Smuggled Pork Annually

Chinese customs officials say they are cracking down on "rampant" pork smuggling to prevent further spread of African swine fever and downward pressure on domestic pork prices. On August 24, Chinese coast guard officials apprehended a ship carrying over 300 metric tons of chicken feet, frozen pork, feet, ears, and tongues. Officials claim to have seized of 15,000 metric tons of meat in 6 meat smuggling cases from April 25 to May 25. 

Comic shows a stream of ants carrying loads of "smuggled zombie meat" through a tunnel into "China"

The article notes that meat smuggling is cyclical: it rises when Chinese pork prices are higher than foreign prices and falls when Chinese prices fall. The article estimates that smuggling of frozen pork and offal totals 500,000 metric tons in a normal year, but rises to over 1 million metric tons when prices are high. The article estimates that 100,000 live hogs are smuggled into the country annually. The article claims that smuggled pork has a "very bad" effect on Chinese pork prices.

Meat smuggling is mainly in Guangdong Province, Guangxi and Yunnan. Smuggling by boat is popular because it is easier to evade authorities, the article said. Smuggling of live hogs and cattle occurs mainly at two crossings from Vietnam into Guangxi Province, and some also occurs on the Yunnan border, the article said. Live hogs are transported to slaughter facilities in Jiangxi, Chongqing, and Hubei Provinces.

Diagram posted by a small city in Sichuan shows the supply chain for 

smuggled hogs from buyers in Vietnam to brokers and slaughterhouses in China.

Legal imports of pork and offal peaked at 1.6 million metric tons in 2016, then fell to 1.2 million metric tons in 2017. Legal importers include processing companies like Shuanghui, COFCO Meat, Jinluo, Yurun, Congpin, and Longda. In 2016, Shuanghui was the top legal importer, accounting for 19 percent of imports.

Truck smuggling pigs intercepted by authorities in Yunnan Province in 2016.