Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

A Chinese bank has given its customers more than 1,000 cuts of fresh pork as a reward for their cash deposits as prices for the staple food skyrocket in the country following an outbreak of swine flu.

Thousands queued outside the Duqiao Town branch of the Linhai Rural Commercial Bank in East China’s Zhejiang Province for a chance to win between 1.1 and 5.5 lbs of pork.

Existing customers, as well as new clients, were eligible for a raffle ticket when they put at least 10,000 RMB (1,080 GBP) into a fixed-term deposit account of at least three months during the promotional event on 16th December.

The bank said it called 1,097 winners, with each lucky customer receiving a randomly assigned cut of pork, which were laid out on large tables outside the branch for all to see.

Staff members said they offer rewards for deposits every year – last year they gave our duck – however, this year they chose to give away pork.

This is believed to be in response to the increasingly high demand for the national staple since supply was ravaged by the outbreak of the African swine fever virus in August 2018.

Since then, China – the world’s largest pork market – has seen more than 100 million pig deaths, while pork prices remain at a high of around 44 RMB (4.7 GBP) per kilogramme.

According to reports, various smaller banks are attempting to attract customers using similar pork giveaways.

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