According to a recent Reuters release, the comment came before an additional 10 percent tariff was imposed by China on US farm imports kicked in on 1 September.

Pork prices in China have soared to a record level after African swine fever (ASF) swept through the country’s pig herd.

“The amount of American pork imports accounts for less than 0.2 percent of Chinese output, and the trade dispute with the United States has no impact on pork supply and pork prices in China,” said Xin Guochang at the husbandry and veterinarian bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs told CCTV.

China produced 54.04 million tonnes of pork in 2018. INTL FCStone, a broker and consultancy, estimated the figure would fall to 38 million tonnes in 2019 and 34 million tonnes in 2020 as China continued to struggle to control ASF.

Beijing said on Thursday it would seek to boost pork imports and release frozen pork, beef and mutton from state reserves in “due course” to increase the supply of meat in the market.

Pork imports in the first seven months rose 36 percent from the same period a year earlier to 1 million tonnes.

“We should ensure pork supply by all means ... and strictly rein in market speculation, actively boost production of alternative meat products and increase frozen pork reserves,” Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua told a teleconference on Friday, according to state-owned Xinhua News Agency.

China’s pig herd shrank by 32.2 percent in July from the same month a year ago, according to official data.