The Food & Health Bureau says the daily Mainland live-pig import figures come from the health certificates accompanying imported live pigs, and the Government has been using this calculation method with no difficulty.

In response to individual pig-traders groups' intention to stage protests, the bureau urged the trade to discuss the issue, and not resort to drastic actions which might affect the public.

The bureau said in the past week, the number of Mainland live pigs entering Hong Kong was on average 3,900 per day. Taking the local live-pig supply into account, the overall daily pig supply was about 4,620.

The average daily Mainland live-pigs import figure last month was 4,525, while total supply was 5,220. The average daily import figure last year was about 4,400, while the total supply was 5,430, and the figures for the first half of this year were 4,235 and 5,140, the bureau said.

Compared with the figures in the whole of last year, the first half of this year and last month, the average daily supply in the past week was 89%, 92% and 86% of the normal supply, while that for the total supply was 85%, 90% and 89%.