BEIJING — China has allocated more than 17.1 billion yuan ($2.44 billion) of funds between September and January to boost pork production, the finance ministry said.

The funds, including 11.8 billion yuan from the central budget and 5.3 billion yuan from local governments, were used to subsidize pig farmers whose pigs were culled due to the African swine fever and offer a subsidy of interest in granting discount loans to support hog production, the Ministry of Finance said on its website.

This came as the country's pork prices soared after the African swine fever battered the pork industry last year, and pushed up consumer prices. The output of the staple meat in China plunged 21.3 percent year-on-year in 2019.

The Chinese government unveiled a range of measures to boost market supplies. However, pork prices, which were largely expected to soften, continued to rise as a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The ministry said it will continue to closely monitor the combined impacts of the African swine fever and the epidemic, enhance implementation of existing supportive policies and further improve policy incentives to restore hog production.