A woman buys pork at a supermarket in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, Dec. 22, 2019. Local authorities has released on Sunday more frozen pork reserves to ensure market supply for the upcoming holidays and to keep the pork price stable. The price is 43.2 yuan (about 6.2 U.S. dollars) per kg. (Xinhua/Peng Zhaozhi)

 China will further increase pork imports from more countries ahead of the holiday peak season as supply continues to be strangled due to the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF), despite rising domestic output, officials said on Monday.

"We will encourage large companies to actively search for foreign supplies and expand sources for imports and work with relevant departments to further facilitate the customs clearance of pork imports and improve efficiency in the inspection and quarantine process to reduce cost," Wang Bin, deputy director of the Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said at a briefing.

Wang added that MOFCOM will release more pork from the central reserves to boost supplies ahead of the New Year and the Spring Festival. The ministry has already released a total 100,000 tons of pork from the reserve, he said.

China has been taking various measures to ensure steady supply, including increasing imports and tapping the central reserve, as prices for the main stable skyrocketed due to the ASF outbreak.

In the first 11 months of 2019, China's pork imports jumped 66 percent year-on-year to about 1.84 million tons, according to data from China's General Administration Customs (GAC). China has also given the green light for meat imports to 16 more countries so far this year, bringing the total number of pork supplying countries to 20, the GAC said.

Apart from increasing imports, China has also set up what's known as a "food basket" mechanism to apply pressure on heads of local governments to take more effective measures to ensure steady supply.

As a result of the measures, pork prices have declined by as much as 18 percent from the peak price of 52.4 yuan ($7.5) per kilogram on November 1 to 42.89 yuan per kilogram on Friday, according to Yu Kangzhen, vice minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Yu said at a press briefing that hog supply increased 2 percent in November from October after restrictions on hog farms were eased.