If you've noticed the price of bacon is a bit higher than you're used to, you're not wrong - and it could go even higher in the next few months.
Statistics New Zealand said earlier this month that the price of bacon reached a record high in September - on average, about $13 for a 700g packet - and the problem rests with supply.
China is the world's largest producer of pork, and it is struggling to combat African swine fever there.
African swine fever is an incurable disease which kills most pigs in a week.
China is the king of pork - it exported NZ$185.5 billion worth of pork last year, while the next biggest exporter was the USA with $31.7 billion - and so a large proportion of the world's supply rests with them.
But African swine fever has led to mass culls in China as the government has tried to control the outbreak, and hundreds of millions of pigs have been affected so far.
By the end of 2020, China will have about 275 million pigs - down almost 40 per cent since the beginning of 2018 - a drop equal to about 10 per cent of the world's production.
The bad news for New Zealand is prices here could still go higher.
China's Lunar New Year is coming up in January, which is traditionally a high consumption period for pork and bacon.
The higher-than-usual demand will likely force prices even higher.
Exporters here will be faced with the fact that overseas buyers will pay more for their product, and so will likely increase their prices here to compensate.
SHARE ME