The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture announced that the pig population of the Asian country has increased by 24% this year, until May, and that African swine fever (ASF) has almost completely disappeared.
Bloomberg News has picked up the statements of Xin Guochang, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture, who stated that the herd size is close to normal for this time of year, and that about three and a half million low-productivity breeding sows had been slaughtered in the first five months of the year, which should lead to an improvement in fertility.
African swine fever decimated the number of pigs in China in 2018 and there was a resurgence of the disease earlier this year. In the Chinese domestic market, pork prices have fallen by almost half so far in 2021 to 22.45 yuan (slightly less than three euros) per kilo, with low demand and while farmers rebuilt their productions, keeping imports low and causing a drop in the shares of large producers.
This panic in pork sales caused a "stampede effect" in the world's largest pork market, driving prices down even further, Xin Guochang explained. About 10% of Chinese pig producers were suffering losses in May, while others maintained their profitability as prices hovered above 12 yuan a kilo, he added. The number of low-productivity sows destined for meat instead of breeding has dropped to 12% of the total sow herd from 22% at the end of last year, the Agriculture Ministry official also noted.
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