China recently made its largest purchases of U.S. pork in at least six years as African swine fever (ASF) continues to devastate its hog herd. U.S. Department of Agriculture data last week showed sales of 77,732 metric tons of U.S pork to Chinese buyers in the week ended April 4, the most since the USDA started tracking the sales in 2013.

The purchases came despite China’s retaliatory duties of 62 percent applied on U.S. pork shipments as the result of the ongoing trade dispute between the ...