0003230
G.F. 323*
24/9/1
31.
CONFIDENTIAL
7
Local
China
Overseas
Average Monthly Supply (Heads)
1963
29%
61%
10%
169,000
1964
20%
77%
3%
182,000
1965
15%
84%
1%
186,700
1966
12%
87%
1%
181,700
1967
12%
86%
2%
161,600
See also Appendix 3
Pigs from China Chinese supplies come from the central and southern provinces of China and depend upon a pattern of requisition from commune farms throughout these provinces and of rail and river communi- cations. Thus a breakdown of administration or of the limited communi- cations in China could have a major effect on supplies very quickly. Hong Kong is likely to have little warning when such disruption may occur. The same applies to beef cattle although these tend to come from some of the more northerly provinces as well.
32. Pigs from Overseas Overseas supplies during 1967 came from the following sources: Taiwan (16,243 head), Thailand (8,524 head), Cambodia (1,035 head), South Korea (776 head), Singapore (420 head), North Vietnam (407 head) and Indonesia (247 head). However these countries do not normally have the capacity to increase significantly their production for export at short notice. They could not therefore replace any serious reduction in Chinese supplies in under two years. Shipping and port facilities could probably be organised within this period. After past experiences they could only be expected to increase production if they were confident that Chinese supplies would not return.
33. Local Pigs In July, 1967 local farmers had about 270,000 pigs of which 30,000 were breeding stock. Thus in an emergency there would be something over 200,000 pigs maturing over a six month period provided imports of foodstuffs could be maintained. If shipping were interrupted and foodstuffs were therefore not available, this stock could be systematically killed and frozen subject to the availability of frozen storage. The possibility of increasing the local production of pigs to reduce Hong Kong's dependence on China for fresh pork is currently being examined. The main problem is to meet the prices which China has been known to sell its pork in the past when it wished to gain or maintain a dominance in this market.
34.
Live Cattle The daily consumption of cattle has varied over the last year from 300 to 660 head a day. Much depends on the size of the beast which run from small local draught animals to large Cambodian buffaloes. During 1967 the average consumption was 470 head a day. The recent pattern of supply has been :
Local
China
Overseas
Average Monthly Supply (Heads)
1963
3%
19%
78%
10,000
1964
2%
32%
66%
12,000
1965
1%
50%
49%
14,800
1966
2%
61%
37%
16,200
1967
2%
57%
41%
14,500
See also Appendix 3
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CONFIDENTIAL
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