July 31, 2024

 

How the top 20 Chinese pig producers stack up in 2023

 

The number of pigs produced in China reached 720 million head in 2023, while data from government and private sources estimated it to be 550 million.

 

The combined number of pigs released by the top 20 pig producers in the country increased from 166.80 million head in 2022 to 198.68 million head last year, accounting for 27.59% (based on government data) or 36.12% (based private agency data) of China's total pig production volume for the year.

 

 

Muyuan and Wens, the two largest pig producers in the country, have reached a high level of pig production capacity since 2022. However, last year, as the pig industry suffered severe losses, both companies stopped expanding their capacities. New Hope Group accelerated the growth of  its production capacity prior to 2023, only to be hampered later by deficits that pushed its debt ratio high — compelling the group to sell some of its pig farms and terminate rental pig farms.

 

The biggest change among pig companies is Zhengbang, which ranked sixth in production in 2022 with a release volume of 8.45 million pigs. Then it went bankrupt last year and was taken over by Twins Group. Zhenbang was the only producer with a drop in pig output in 2023.

 

Meanwhile, last year, Dekon, Tianbang and Da Bei Nong recorded an increase of 1.62-2.70 million heads in release volumes and production capacity. The pig release volumes of Haid, Guangxi State Farm, TRS and Giantstar increased by more than 1.00 million heads, a big jump compared to their 2022 output.

 

Some producers suffered hard from the impact of long-term losses in pig farming in 2023. Aonong has also gone bankrupt while New Hope's asset-liability ratio was still high at 72.28% last year (the asset-liability ratio of New Wellful and Tianbang were also high at 74.99% and 86.73% respectively). The focus of these pig companies this year is to reduce production capacity as well as their debt ratio.

 

Indeed, cost reduction is the focus of pig producers in 2024. Except for Wens, the pig releases of other producers are expected to be mainly stable.

 

Still, for those pig producers that release less than 10 million heads annually, the gradual increase in production capacity could lead to higher pig output.

 

- Shi Tao, eFeedLink