In the midst of a coronavirus epidemic, few travelers leave Europe for China. On Tuesday, 1,000 somewhat unusual passengers made the trip from Brest (Finistère). A thousand pigs, handpicked for their reproductive performance, flew to China, a country hard hit in 2019 by African swine fever.
"We are on Formula 1 of French genetics," says Laurent Poussart, managing director of Celtic Freight Consulting, the company in charge of the logistics of this unusual expedition. In total, between Tuesday and Wednesday, 2,000 breeding pigs will leave the Breton airport.
Sent from Meneac, in Morbihan, where they were in quarantine, the pigs were penned in boxes installed in a large hangar. "They are in the VIP lounge before taking the plane," laughs Laurent Poussart. Depending on the country, the price of these animals is five to ten times higher than that of an animal intended for slaughter. "These pigs are a bit of athletes leaving for the Olympic Games, they are the best mothers for their maternal qualities and the best dads for their robustness and their growth", explains Marie Pushparajalingam, director of development and international strategy for the Axiom company.
The company specializing in pig genetics plans to send some 10,000 French breeding pigs to China in 2020, and ensures that other contracts are already planned for 2021. Until now, it has sent between 2,000 and 4,000 per year. "With swine fever China needs to receive more," says the director of Axiom.
Before being struck by the coronavirus, China, the first consuming country but also the leading producer of pork in the world, had to face the ravages of swine fever. Harmless to humans, this highly contagious viral disease causes hemorrhages that can be fatal in a few days in wild boars and domestic pigs. Chinese authorities announced in late 2019 that they had lost 50% of their breeding pig herds in this epidemic, or around 500 million pigs, according to a pork market expert.
"We need a lot of pigs"
"It was a disaster for our pigs," said Huan Liu, a veterinarian from the Chinese customs service, who came to check on the animals' good health before they left. "We need a lot of pigs to rebuild our livestock," she says in hesitant English, praising the "high quality of French pigs", as well as the great care taken in preparing their transport.
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