China's supermarkets are topping up their meat counters with frozen pork from state reserves, after prices of the nation's favorite protein source surged to budget-busting levels, threatening to mar this week's National Day festivities.
Pork, which has a prominent place at nearly every Chinese dinner table, is in short supply after a deadly virus infected and killed millions of hogs across China over the past year.
Beijing has stepped in to try and quell prices that have jumped to almost double from a year ago and are still climbing, releasing 30,000 tons of pork in three batches over the past fortnight.