December 11, 2020

Muyuan Foods aims to establish world's biggest pig farm

Chinese pig producer Muyuan Foods plans to raise more hogs in a single site than any company in the world by establishing a mega farm that will house 84,000 sows and their offspring.

The construction of the new farm near Nanyang, central China, began in March, with its first building starting operation in September.

"We have hit a very favourable period for development. Pig prices are very high, our profits are really good, and cash flow is really ample," Qin Jun, Muyuan's vice general manager, told Reuters at the company's headquarters in Nanyang.

The mega farm would potentially be the largest of its kind worldwide, roughly 10 times the size of a typical breeding facility in the United States. Muyuan aims to produce around 2.1 million pigs a year at the farm.

"We will employ fewer people and use more technology," Qin said of the ¥3 billion (US$458.4 million) farm, highlighting the use of intelligent feeding systems, manure cleaning robots and infrared cameras to detect pigs with fever.

According to Qin, Muyuan will spend about ¥40 billion (US$6.1 billion) this year on new pig farms.

 - The Business Times