China puts brake on pork prices
- ??By Wu Jin
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 22, 2019
Pork prices in China eventually ended their strong upward growth curve, especially this week, China National Radio's Voice of China channel, reported on Nov. 19.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the country's wholesale pork price on average fell to 45.31 yuan (US$6.44) per kilogram on Nov. 18, a drop of 5.9% compared with last Friday.
In order to put a brake on soaring pork prices that almost turned the ordinarily dietary meat into an extravagance, the Chinese government launched a package of measures at the start of the second half of the year, which began to take effect in recent weeks.
"The pork is cheaper than what I paid several days ago, roughly 10 to 12 yuan less per kilogram," said a resident surnamed Tang visiting a wholesale market in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.
Wang Yanan, analyst from SCI99.com, one of the country's commodity pricing platforms, explained: "The major causes for the sagging pork price are partly due to the expansion of live pigs breeding and partly to the growing supply of frozen meat reserves."
This had resulted in the price drop of fresh pork. Meanwhile, the increasing frozen pork supply both at home and abroad has also helped ease market scarcity.
Meanwhile, the number of reproductive sows rebounded last month, the decline rate being narrowed year-on-year.
According to Zhu Zengyong, deputy research fellow from the Agricultural Information Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, pork prices won't see a turning point until the second half of next year, considering the general life cycle of market pigs and reproductive sows as well.
In fact, pork prices are supposed to see small rise again in the next few months as the demand will probably mount with the approach of the New Year holiday and the traditional Chinese Spring Festival.
Meng Wei, spokesperson of the National Development and Reform Commission, recently revealed that the government will choose an appropriate time to increase the supply of frozen pork reserves.
The frozen pork is safe to eat, said Zhu Yi, deputy professor from the China Agricultural University, citing that China allows its frozen pork to be reserved for 4 months at most.
