January 7, 2010

China's hog imports in 2009 show a significant fall compared with 2008.

From January-October in 2009, China's import of hogs from the US was 4,175 head, down 31.84% year-on-year.

The decline can be attributed to the backlog inventory from 2008, which adequately satisfies the domestic demand for hogs. In addition, due to China's restrictions on hog imports from swine flu infected countries, there was no import in May and June in 2009.

Since the AH1N1 outbreak, hog prices have declined significantly. In 2009, the average price was US$1,000 per head, a drop of 40.06% compared to US$1,669 in 2008.

Decline in swine imports indicates that the China's hog industry is in a period of adjustment at the moment. Since last year, there was an increase in sow inventory, resulting in relatively abundant supply of hogs, thus rebalancing the swine population.