June 19, 2008

China's Hebei reports pig price drops in May

Live pig prices in China's Hebei province fell by 5.8 percent on-month in May to RMB7.68/500 grammes, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday (June 17, 2008).

Hebei's prices for baby pig also declined by 6.6 percent to RMB16.28/500g.

Driving the price drops is the constantly rising pork price which has discouraged consumption and has driven down the pork sales volume, observers said.

Furthermore, as Chinese farmers are enticed by favourable policies to breed more pigs, the live pig inventories increased.

This prompted some pig breeding farming households are in a hurry to sell their inventories at lower prices.

Experts say that the live pig and pork prices will stabilize in the near future.