July 17, 2007

China's June wholesale pork prices 75 percent above last year

The wholesale price of pork in China surged 74.6 percent in June compared with the same month last year, according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) released Monday (Jul 16). 

The wholesale prices polled by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) in 36 large and medium-sized cities averaged RMB 18.57 kilogramme on July 11, up nearly 30 percent from the RMB 14.25 on May 11. Meanwhile, the average retail price for lean pork is now more than RMB 22 per kilogramme.

The price average of the three main grains: rice, wheat and corn rose 7.9 percent on-year in the first half of the year.

China is facing a pork shortage partly due to disease which was said to have wiped out large populations of pig and high feed prices which discouraged pig farming last year.

Official figures put nearly 40,000 pigs having died of blue ear disease at a mortality rate of 27.5 percent.

Blue-ear pig disease remains a severe challenge to China's Yangtze River valley although the disease has been basically brought under control, the MOA said.

To control rising feed prices, the central government has urged local governments to halt approvals for new corn processing facilities, a rapidly growing sector which was thought to have pushed up corn prices through higher demand.

China's pig population was 476 million as of the end of June, down 0.15 percent from the same period last year.