Macro Trends Food Inflation Reaches Highest Level in Seven and a Half Years The effects of the August 2018 outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) have continued to reverberate across China’s economy in 2019. In the second quarter of this year, food inflation has hit levels not seen since 2012. This spring’s run-up in the cost of food began when those prices climbed 4.1 percent in March versus March 2018, which occurred as live hog prices recovered following the Lunar New Year celebration in February. In April, food prices shot up 6.1 percent on an annualized basis, marking the largest monthly increase since April 2016. Then came an 18.2 percent surge in the cost of pork in May along with price increases of 26.7 percent for fres...

TAGS – Livestock, Asia, China, Macroeconomics