August 15, 2007

China's pig industry showing signs of recovery

After a sharp decline in the pig population in the past few months that saw surging pork prices throughout China, the pig industry is finally showing signs of a pick-up.

China's pig populations on major farms rose 7.3 percent in July from the same month last year and was 2.1 percent higher than June, strong signs that China's pork breeding industry is recovering, Chen Weisheng, deputy director of the Livestock Husbandry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, said.

At the same time, sales of pig feed in June rose six percent from June last year, with feed for sows up 5.6 percent, and that for young pigs up 13.5 percent, he noted.

Further boosting confidence in the industry, an official from The Ministry of Commerce said pork prices would stabilize as more pork is expected in the market soon.

Meanwhile, China is working out a series of measures to ensure that pig diseases would no longer be able to deliver the kind of shock to the market seen in the previous months. These include vaccination measures, beefing up that nation's meat reserves systems and setting up a pig insurance system to shield farmers from losses wracked up by pig diseases.

China Development Bank (CDB) is working out a financial support package for pig insurance for the New Hope Group, a major pig breeder in the southwestern Sichuan Province, and Beijing Qianxihe Food Group, a key pork supplier in the capital.

The insurance would ensure a steady supply of six million pigs annually for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.