October 25, 2022

 

China pork production in Q3 slows as breeding herds are down

 

China pork production in Q3 reached 12.11 million tonnes, 1% up year-on-year, underlining the effect on output after farmers noted massive losses earlier in 2022, US News reported.

 

As a result of some farmers reducing their breeding herds in the latter part of 2021 and early this year as a result of months of low swine prices and high feed costs eroding profits, China's pork production growth rate has recently slowed after increasing every quarter year-over-year for the previous two years.

 

However, calculations of data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that third quarter pork output was slightly higher than the 12.02 million tonnes produced during the same period a year earlier.

 

In the third quarter of the year, more than 12 million tonnes of pork are typically produced.

 

According to data from the statistics bureau, China produced 41.5 million tonnes of pork in the first nine months of the year, an increase of 5.9% over the same period in 2013.

 

Hog prices have increased by more than 60% since the middle of June, driving up consumer inflation and necessitating frequent market interventions by Beijing authorities.

 

Some analysts said the price increase is the result of a reduced supply of swine.

 

The rally, according to China's state planner, is the result of farmers delaying the slaughter of pigs while they wait for higher prices, while others try to make money by raising pigs to heavier weights.

 

The data also showed that the total number of swine increased from 430.57 million at the end of June to 443.94 million at the end of September.

 

-      US News