September 14, 2011

China imported 91,000 tonnes of pork from the US in the first seven months, a 500% increase from the same period last year, according to data recently released by the USDA.

Currently, China is the fifth largest market for US pork exports, up from the 10th position last year, according to the USDA.

China increased pork imports this year, but the impact on stabilising domestic pork prices was limited, an industry insider said.

Still, the import volume during the January-July period paled in comparison to China's pork output of 50.7 million tonnes last year. But the same industry insider predicted domestic pork supplies would improve next year.

Meanwhile, the central government continues to remain cautious over food inflation. Pork prices rose 45.5% from a year earlier in August, contributing 1.27 percentage points to the month's CPI growth of 6.2%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

China's pork prices are expected to continue rising until the end of this year, the China Animal Agriculture Association said earlier.