China buys more frozen pork to stabilise hog prices

China purchased the second batch of frozen pork for state reserves on Tuesday (Apr 20) in a bid to stabilise domestic hog prices and protect farmers' interest, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MoC).

The government purchased the first batch of frozen pork on April 13, which has played positive effect on the market. Average purchase prices of hog ended a fall for three and a half months running and started to rise slightly last week (April 12-18).

A survey by the MoC showed that national hog prices averaged at RMB9.85/kg (US$1.44) last week, edging up 0.6% from the previous week.

However, hog prices in some regions still present downward trend. Last week, purchase prices in Guangxi, Tibet, Shanghai, Guangdong and Jiangxi respectively fell 1.8%, 1.5%, 1.3%, 1.2% and 1.2% from a week earlier.

To steadily recover hog prices to reasonable levels, the MoC will continue to keep a close watch on hog market and implement more frozen pork purchases.