Senior officials yesterday pledged to take more macro-measures
to rein in pork prices while ensuring a stable supply of meat and
other staple foods.
The measures will include better disease-prevention efforts and
large-scale breeding, said Zhou Wangjun, vice-director of the
National Development and Reform Commission's price department.
For the first time, the authorities are mulling subsidy and
insurance policies to facilitate the development of the breeding
industry, and "the government will offer certain premiums to pig
farmers in cases of major natural disasters and outbreaks of
disease," he said.
Zhou made the remarks in an online interview with www.gov.cn. Officials from Ministry of
Agriculture and Ministry of Commerce also took part.
The prices of pork and eggs have soared in the past few
months.
Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture suggest that in
April, baby pigs were priced 71.3 percent higher than they were
last year. Live pigs were priced 45.2 percent higher, and pork 29.3
percent higher.
Last month, the price of pork jumped another 26.3 percent to an
average of 16.3 yuan per kilogram. The price fell by 0.3 percent in
the first ten days this month.
Chen Weisheng, vice-director of the Ministry of Agriculture's
husbandry and veterinary department, said the price hikes were the
result of a marginal decline in the pig population this year.
An increase in the cost of animal feed last June had made
farmers reluctant to raise pigs.
In addition, an outbreak of blue ear disease, also known as
Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), caused nearly
one million pig deaths and led to mass culling last year.
Tests for the disease and vaccines have been developed and
delivered to local farmers this month, Chen added.
Zhou predicted that pork prices would level off because the
supply had been "secured".
"Breeders are confident again thanks to the good prices and the
effective control of epidemic diseases," he added.
Zhu Xiaoliang, a deputy-director of the Ministry of Commerce's
market operations department, said the pork market is "normal" and
that releasing supplies from the national pork reserves would be
"unnecessary".
"The reserves are mainly used to cope with emergencies or huge
amounts of consumption during major holidays," Zhu said.
For example, reserves were released during the SARS outbreak in
2003 and when snowstorms hit northeastern Liaoning Province this March.
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(China Daily June 13, 2007)