August 14, 2008
Pork consumption in China has slowed recently due to a normal reduction during the summer months and fewer meals served at factory canteens with the businesses running at low speed, exacerbated by the Olympics, said the US Meat Export Federation.
USMEF said Wednesday (August 13) the lull in consumption comes at a time when China's hog herd has been expanding near "double-digit levels on-year, with producers responding to strong industry profitability over the past nine months."
The organization said reports from its offices in China "point to a negative Olympic impact on pork consumption. The effect is more pronounced in Beijing, where tourists have not offset the sharply reduced local customer traffic in many restaurants. Some have even chosen to close for the three-week run of the Olympic games."
"Huge volumes of imported pork and poultry products have stacked up in Chinese cold stores," USMEF said and some facilities have reported they are full. "National distribution of imports has also been affected by the Olympics, as increased security on roadways has slowed product movement." In addition, declining domestic prices have narrowed the spread between the wholesale prices for imported pork and domestically produced products, the organization said.
Domestic boneless fresh pork prices in large urban areas have dropped between 15 percent and 20 percent from the highs reached in February of this year, the release said. In late July, China's ministry of agriculture announced that its total mid-year live hog inventories have increased by more than 9 percent from a year ago while sow numbers rose 22.5 percent.
Inflation in food prices in China has slowed, which could be good news for consumers there and for meat sales overall.
US pork and pork-variety meat exports continued their surge in June, with 54,352 tonnes being shipped to China/Hong Kong, nearly four times the June 2007 total of 14,115 tonnes, USMEF said. China/Hong Kong led worldwide US pork exports to a record-setting first half of 2008. Shipments there reached 254,445 tonnes, valued at US$439.8 million, during the January-June period.
