July 5, 2007

China's pork prices reach new highs in Beijing and Guangdong

Despite Beijing's efforts to curb rising prices, the price of pork is still climbing in some large Chinese cities as higher feed prices, more disease cases and other issues conspired to drive prices up.

Statistics from the Beijing Xinfadi Market, the biggest agricultural products wholesale market, show that the wholesale price of pork reached a record of RMB 17.5  (US$2.3) per kilogramme on July 2. Part of the reason was due to transportation problems caused by rainfalls and a short supply of pigs.

From June 26 to July 1, pork in the market was sold at less than RMB 17 per kilogramme by wholesale.

The price of pork in Guangzhou also saw a record high in July as well, with its retail price hitting RMB 11 per kilogramme on July 2. The purchasing price of live pigs in the province rose to RMB 14.4 per kilogramme Jul 4 from RMB 12.4 at the beginning of June this year.

In Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, the wholesale price of pork rose 10 percent in two weeks to hit RMB 16 per kilogram on June 29.

A similar rise can be seen in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, where the ex-factory price of pork on July 2 grew 12 percent from the beginning of July. The price of live is also up more than 10 percent from the beginning of June.

China's pork prices were 29.3 percent higher in April year on year.