BRF SA Chief Executive Lorival Luz has said the Brazilian food processor will increase its output of pork because an outbreak of African swine fever in China is driving up demand there for imported pork, Reuters reports.
The news agency quotes Mr Luz as saying on Wednesday BRF is the source of 28 percent of the roughly 4 million tonnes of pork that Brazil produces each year.
He did not say by how much his company can increase its output.
The outbreak of disease has reduced the Chinese inventory of swine by 29 percent in the past 12 months, Reuters quotes Mr Luz as saying during an industry event in São Paulo.
US financial services company INTL FCStone Inc. forecasts that Chinese imports of pork will grow to 4.2 million tonnes next year from 2.1 million tonnes last year because of the outbreak, Reuters says.
