China to replenish pork reserves to stabilize market

BEIJING - China's top economic planner said Monday it plans to purchase pork to replenish the reserves at both the central and local levels, as an index monitoring pork prices has dropped below a warning level.

The index, the national average of pork prices against grain prices, came in at 4.9 to 1 last week, falling below the warning level of 5 to 1, said the National Development and Reform Commission. The index can reflect the cost and profit relationship in pig farming.

The authorities released a work plan in early June to improve the mechanism for adjusting pork reserves to stabilize the market, detailing multiple measures to avoid drastic price changes in the pork market.

Since 2021, hog prices have trended down for several consecutive months. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that prices went down 11.2 percent in early June compared with late May.

While cyclical fluctuations of pork supply and prices are a worldwide phenomenon, such volatilities are especially high in China, partly because the majority of the country's pigs are produced on family farms.