Tougher new restrictions are being placed on imported live pigs from the United States, which represents a small portion of pork products that the U.S. exports to China.

Perhaps more telling, though, is what happened behind the scenes here in China to put some of these measures into place, says Feng Yonghui, chief analyst at Soozhu-dot-com, China’s major web portal on the live pig market: 

“China’s domestic pork prices have been very low for the last two years thanks to imported live pigs from America,” said Feng from his office in Beijing, “Domestic farmers have been complaining a lot to China’s government about this, so given all this pressure, it’s understandable the government would take such measures.”

China has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct testing and provide certification that imported live hogs are from herds that are free of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, and producers in the states have already noticed that China is already denying permits for live hog imports until the USDA starts to implement this type of testing.