(Yicai Global) Aug. 20 –- The third epidemic of highly infectious African swine fever has been discovered in the city of Lianyungang in eastern China's Jiangsu province, which has put a downward pressure on China's mainland-listed pork product firms' stocks.

Some 88 pigs at a farm in Lianyungang in Jiangsu province have died in an unexplained manner since Aug. 15 and some 615 hogs are infected, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday.

Affected by the news, the stock of Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development [SZA:000895], the largest meat processing company in China, has slid 13.85 percent from its height on Aug. 2 to CNY22.40 (USD3.27) at the close today. Wens Foodstuff Group [SZA:300498], the biggest pig farming firm, fell 5.39 percent to CNY20.

This is the first spate of the highly fatal animal disease in the country. The first case was found in the province of Liaoning, about 1,300 kilometers away from Lianyungang, on Aug. 3. The second one was in central China's city of Zhengzhou. The illness is not dangerous for humans.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is working with relevant authorities to trace the specific source of the virus and find out whether there is a link between the three outbreaks.

Editor: Emmi Laine