August 17, 2007

China will not bring about an increase in global pork prices

Higher pork prices in China and the higher demand in the country will not force pork prices worldwide to rise, a Ministry of Commerce spokesman said Thursday (Aug 16).

Huge price increases are not expected as China is largely self-sufficient in pork, the Ministry said.

China's wholesale pork price in July was an 85.8-percent increase over the same month last year, while frozen pork was up 89.2 percent in price from July last year.

Responding to questions on whether China is importing more pork to ease rising prices, Wang Xinpei said China had always been buying pork on the international market, but exports were significantly more than imports.

China imported 24,000 tonnes of pork last year and 21,000 tonnes in the first half of this year. This is compared to 270,000 tonnes of pork it exported in 2006 and 83,000 tonnes it exported in the first half of this year.

China consumes 50 million tonnes of pork a year, with imports accounting only for 0.4 percent of total supply.

The domestic pork market remained largely stable, and pork was available nationwide, Wang said.

The average meat price in China fell for the first time in two months last week, falling 1.2 percent from the previous week thanks to efforts to expand supply, the Ministry of Commerce said. The rise in pork prices also seems to be abating, having fallen 1.5 percent from the previous week, the ministry said.