August 15, 2007

China pork prices up 86 percent in year through July

Pork prices in China surged nearly 86 percent in the last year, but officials said they were expected to stabilize because supply is on the rise, state media reported Tuesday (August 14).

The wholesale pork price climbed 11.5 percent in July, an 85.8 percent increase over the same month last year, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing figures from the People's Bank of China. Frozen pork prices were 89.2 percent over last year.

Pork is China's staple meat, and the government has been eager to appear responsive to consumer pain. The rising prices have fuelled the country's inflation rate, which rose to 5.6 percent in July, the highest monthly rate in a decade.

The surge has been blamed mainly on a cyclical shortage of stocks, higher costs for feed, and an outbreak of deadly blue ear disease among herds.

The disease has killed nearly 40,000 pigs in China this year. Many farmers have stopped raising pigs for fear they might be stricken by the illness, authorities say.

But an agriculture official said Tuesday that the pork industry is on the rebound. The number of pigs on major farms rose 7.3 percent in July over last year, a 2.1 increase from the previous month, Chen Weisheng, deputy director of the Livestock Husbandry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, was quoted as saying.

Commerce Ministry officials said prices would stabilize as more pork comes onto the market.

China produced 53 million tonnes of pork last year more than double that of the second highest producer, the 27-nation European Union, according to the US Department of Agriculture.