China: Analysts report on rising pork prices

07-09-2009 | Home | News

Himfr.com, one of China’s leading B2B search platforms has reported that the price of pork will not exceed the high 2007 prices.

The price of pork has been continually rising for nine weeks, and it seems that the price of pork will fluctuate wildly again. The market is worried that there will be a new round of widespread fear of inflation.

Himfr.com has analysed the reasons behind the rising prices in the pork and first of all, although the price is rising, there is still an oversupply of pork. China’s annual consumption of pork is around 40 million tonnes; this requires live male pigs of no less than 410 million heads and sows no less than 41 million heads. At the end of June, China’s live pigs number about 447.2 million heads, of which 48.3 million are sows, so the supply fully meets the market demand for pork, and there is not a short supply as in 2007.

The outbreak of H1N1 influenza at the beginning of the year resulted in lower pork prices. This was coupled with feed prices rising and a pig breeding cycle of up to six months, which was bound to affect farmers’ enthusiasm. Sows and piglets are more likely to be killed, and six months later, there is a reduction in the supply of pig breeding stock.

The government has stored 120,000 tonnes of pork and encouraged farmers to increase the amount of live pigs on hand in order to maintain the confidence of farmers and thus ensure the supply of sows and piglets.