Chinese pig prices hit their lowest mark in nearly four years this week, according to Reuters. As a result the world’s top pork market has gone into the red and has increased fears that the rapid expansion of large pig farms in China has outpaced slowing demand growth.
The downturn is also set to slow imports by China, which is the world’s top buyer of pork products. Experts are saying that the price will recover later in the year but will come under further pressure in 2019 when even more new farms start production.
Reuters report that while many new large scale operations were coming online, many smaller units were closed down due to pollution problems. This meant that the authorities could not get a firm grip of numbers. So monthly data continued to show a drop in breeding sows which kept prices high during the winter months and so pork was released from the reserves, further exacerbating the problem.
