February 4, 2015

China's pork imports drop 3% in 2014

China had received 564,000 tonnes of pork imports in 2014, a 3% slide compared to the four years before.

Nevertheless, the figure still hovered above the volumes of 2012. On the other hand, pig offal, which sees a marginal rise of imports compared to 2013, stayed below the volumes of 2012.

Part of the overall decrease had been attributed to a near 2% shortfall, year-on-year, in US pork shipments due to China's concerns of ractopamine use in pigs as well as production in the States being affected by the PEDv outbreak.

Also on the decline are unit prices which had fallen 2% year-on-year, even though a significant rise had been reported for international pork export prices. This may partially insinuate various pork products entering China, including many low-value imports.

Overall, the value for China's pork imports had dropped by 5% to US$1.04 billion.

On a positive note, the EU had raised yearly shipments slightly to 368,700 tonnes, taking up 65% of the Chinese market. The trend has been ascribed to growth from Spain, Denmark and the UK which helped to cover reductions from Germany, France and Poland.

The UK is China's sixth largest supplier in 2014, with shipments at 27,500 tonnes and a market share of close to 5%.