Beijing to release frozen pork to ease market pressure

BEIJING - Beijing will release 3.05 million kilograms from its frozen pork reserves onto the market to ease pork supply pressure and contain a price surge.

Beijing's pork prices have been rising since the Lunar New Year due to tight supply, with raw pork prices surging 50.6 percent month on month in April, according to the Beijing municipal government.

The decision, which comes into effect on Thursday and will last until July 4, will see 50,000 kg of pork sold cheaply to 121 major supermarkets on a daily basis. The government will also provide subsidies of up to 9 yuan ($1.4) per kilogram of pork sold to encourage vendors to decrease prices.

The government will encourage slaughterhouses to increase the pork supply through subsidies, with 20 percent more pigs to be slaughtered during the 61-day period.

It is the first time the Beijing government has allocated reserve pork to the market since a "life necessity reserve mechanism" was launched in 1992 to create reserve systems to stabilize prices of key goods.