A woman and a child look at meat at a market in Haian, East China’s Jiangsu Province on Sunday. Food prices rose by 4.1 percent year-on-year in March, according to consumer price index (CPI) data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday. The overall CPI was up 2.4 percent year-on-year. Photo: CFP

China will take necessary measures to lift pork prices to ensure the healthy development of the hog market, according to the official WeChat account of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Wednesday.

The recent rapid decline in hog prices was mainly due to factors such as weaker pork consumption than in previous years and an increase in hog supply at the end of the year, the NDRC said, citing experts. 

The current domestic hog production capacity is in an overall reasonable range, and there is no overcapacity, the NDRC said.

The weak market consumption is temporary, and farmers do not need to worry too much, the NDRC said.

The remarks came after a decline of hog prices in recent months. The main contract of the Dalian Commodity Exchange’s live pig futures on Tuesday was at a low of 15,355 yuan ($2,200) per ton, a drop of 36.8 percent since October 14. 

Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed that the average price of pork in the wholesale market dropped from 31.87 yuan per kg on December 1 to 27.87 yuan per kg on Wednesday, a drop of more than 12 percent.

Experts contributed the price decline to the rising supply, as the number of pigs slaughtered has increased significantly since November.

There were 520.3 million pigs slaughtered nationwide in the first three quarters of this year, with a pork output of 41.5 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 5.9 percent, according to Farmers’ Daily on December 15, adding that it is expected that annual pork production will increase steadily.

For the coming New Year and the Spring Festival holidays, the NDRC said it will keep a close watch on the hog price, and release pork reserves if necessary.

The pig farming industry in China has experienced fluctuation this year. The price of live pigs began to increase in middle and late June. Official data showed that the national live pig price reached 25 yuan per kg on July 19, an increase of 66.6 percent from the low in February. 

Global Times