CHINA, the world's biggest pork producer and consumer, may see its output of the staple decline in the next few months as the May 12 earthquake struck the country's biggest lean-hog producing area.

A 7.9-magnitude earthquake, China's worst in more than half a century, struck Sichuan, a province that accounts for about a 10th of China's total pork production with 65 million lean hogs every year, according to Hanver Li, managing director of Shanghai JC Intelligence Co., an advisory company on international grain markets.

"We expect pork production to fall by around 10-15 percent in the region before they can sort out all the transport, water, electricity and other logistics by August or September,"Li said.

"But the impact should be limited as the hardest-hit mountainous terrain is not the main producing area,"Li said.

Chinese shipments of steel, copper and other commodities were disrupted after the earthquake closed the main railways and killed at least 15,000 people.

Shenzhen-listed Sichuan Gaojin Food Co., a raw and processed pork producer, would slaughter fewer pigs as the company closed three plants in Shifang, Guangyuan and Bazhong, it said in a statement May 13.

The government has given incentives to farmers to address a slump in pork output that caused the prices of the meat to almost double in the past year. (SD-Agencies)