Free Subscription

  • Access daily briefings and unlimited news articles

Premium

Only $39.95 per year
  • Quarterly magazine and digital
  • Indepth executive interviews
  • Unlimited news and insights
  • Expert opinion and analysis

Pork shortage could see surge in price of Christmas hams

Ham
Ham remains Australians’ top choice for Christmas feasts this year.

The price of Christmas ham could soar by up to 60 per cent this Christmas due to a shortage of pork, an industry spokesman said.

Consumers could face a major price hike thanks to a surge in exports after African swine fever decimated pig herds across Europe and Asia, Victorian Farmers Federation’s Tim Kingma said.

“There definitely is a shortage of pork around the world. The last two years, the actual hams at Christmas have been fairly cheap,” Kingma told 3AW radio on Monday.

“Because we’ve had the droughts the costs have been more.

“We’ve actually lost over 10 per cent more of the industry – peak family farmers have gone out, so there is scope to improve and for those people to come back into the industry.”

African swine fever is an untreatable, infectious virus that affects domestic pigs, warthogs and bush pigs and kills within days.

It can be spread when pigs eat infected meat products and through direct contact.

While humans cannot be infected, authorities predict the disease will eradicate up to a quarter of the global pig stocks and obliterate Asian piggeries.

There is estimated to be up to 24 million wild boars across Australia, sparking fears the disease could spread quickly if it gets into the wild.

If a local outbreak occurred, it could cost the Australian pork industry $2 billion.

You have 3 free articles.