April 17, 2008

 

China's pork output slightly up in Q1, to recover gradually

 

 

Pork production in China, following the devastating winter storm, has risen by only 2.3 percent in the first quarter of 2008, as the National Bureau of Statistics predicts gradual but smooth growth of the meat industry.

 

The country's meat output, including pork, beef, mutton and poultry, rose 3.7 percent on-year, Li Xiaochao, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, said Wednesday.

 

In 2007, the pig population dropped by about 10 percent due to pig diseases and weak profits.

 

Stephen Green, head of China research for Standard Chartered in Shanghai, said he is not particularly confident about a huge rise in China's pork supply.

 

Green also pointed that with slow production, demand shows no sign of slowing.

 

Industry analysts said a slow recovery in the availability of pork in China could further contribute to inflation, which ran at 8 percent in the first quarter, well above the government's target of 4.8 percent for 2008.

 

Pork price inflation topped 40 percent at one point last summer, driven by higher grains prices and the farmers' reluctance to breed pigs.

 

Li informed that the number of pigs being delivered to slaughter houses in the first quarter of 2008 increased by 1.9 percent on-year, while the numbers of pigs still in farms rose by 1.6 percent.

 

Snowstorms this winter killed many young piglets in the south, officials said earlier this year. Thus feed demand is also relatively slow.

 

Agriculture had suffered adverse impacts from the snowstorms, yet the post-disaster reconstruction and recovery work achieved significant results, and agricultural production made a good recovery, Li pointed.

 

China will have to prioritize grain and pork production in 2008, the bureau informed.