Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported that the price of pork has skyrocketed in the wake of the swine flu in Africa, which sweeps across China.

It is reported that one of the pigs imported to Hong Kong from Guangdong province on the 10th has been afflicted with an African swine fever, the newspaper said.

The Hong Kong government has suspended the operation of major slaughterhouses in Hong Kong and has ordered the slaughterhouse in Hong Kong's largest slaughterhouse, Shang Sai, to slaughter 6,000 pigs.

However, slaughterhouses in Hong Kong are expected to suffer from the government 's refusal to slaughter the pigs that have already been brought to Hong Kong because they are not infected with the swine flu.

African swine fever is transmitted directly through pigs infected with a viral hemorrhagic febrile infectious disease in pigs, meat and secretions of the pigs, and indirectly transmitted through drinking cans and feeders.

African pig fever has spread to 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China less than nine months after the first outbreak in August last year at a farm in Liaoning Province, China.

With the outbreak of African swine fever in Hong Kong, the Chinese government completely halted the import of pigs raised in the mainland to Hong Kong.

As a result, the butchers in Hong Kong, which have not been receiving pork, are closing up.

Some butchers have raised prices for pork, up by 40 percent from last week.