Topic
African swine fever was first detected in China in August 2018, near its border with Russia, eventually spread to all 31 mainland provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in less than nine months. This led to a mass culling of livestock that surpassed 100 million pigs and a significant jump in the price of pork, close to a 50 per cent increase in some cases. The trade war with the United States limited replacement options from the American agriculture industry due to higher tariffs. In 2018, China consumed about half of the world’s pork but more than 95 per cent was sourced from domestic supplies.
The idea sounds fine on paper as pork is essential to the diet of the Chinese people and to food security, but speculators must be kept at bay
China’s rulers have long seen the stable and sufficient supply of food as the most critical issue in maintaining political, social and economic stability.
Don’t blame China alone as it is everybody’s job to show restraint to kick their craving for meat.
Firms trying to break into the market have to be aware that alternatives are far from new; mock meat has been part of the culinary tradition for 1,400 years
- China’s consumer price index (CPI) rose by 1 per cent in February, year on year, while the producer price index (PPI) fell by 1.4 per cent
- Decline in China’s consumer prices last month was broad-based, as both food and non-food inflation fell, while factory-gate prices stabilised, analysts explain
The sale to French group Solina is expected to generate a US$467 million gain before costs and expenses, WH Group says in an exchange filing.
WH Group warned that the Ukraine-Russia war will push costs up and affect profitability, after reporting a 7.2 per cent jump in annual profit on higher sales.
China’s self-sufficiency targets have been flagged since 2020 as part of Beijing’s food security goals, with a push to be almost entirely self-sufficient in pork production set to bolster purchases of soybeans and feed grains.
China lowered its tariffs on frozen pork in 2020 in the aftermath of a devastating outbreak of African swine fever, but rates for most favoured nations will return to 12 per cent on January 1.
China needs to feed 1.4 billion people with a mixture of domestic supply and imports, but recent problems like African swine fever, the coronavirus and natural disasters can impact availability.
Surging output and Covid-linked demand interruptions have driven down pork prices by 70 per cent this year, but many new farmers are determined to ride out the boom-bust cycle.
China’s official producer price index (PPI) rose by 9.5 per cent in August from a year earlier, while consumer price index (CPI) rose by 0.8 per cent.
WH Group, world’s biggest pork producer said allegations by Wan Hongjian, one of the sons of its founder, are ‘untrue and misleading’.
China’s top economic planning agency says it will strengthen control and prevention of African swine fever after the flooding in Henan province, while also ensuring supplies of essential produce.
So-called hog hotels are being used to prevent virus outbreaks after an African swine fever outbreak in China in 2018 wiped out more than 400 million pigs – roughly half the nation’s herd.
The floods in the central Chinese province of Henan have led to the death of 248,000 pigs, 6.4 million chickens and 45,000 sheep and other large livestock, resulting in damages of 2.25 billion yuan (US$348 million).
China’s Henan province, which is famous for agriculture, and pork production in particular, was left paralysed by floods last week.
The African swine fever epidemic has accelerated a structural transformation in China’s hog farming industry, with small family farms slowly losing market share to agricultural corporations.
China’s official consumer price index (CPI) rose by 1.1 per cent in June, year on year, while plunging pork prices helped drive down the cost of food by 1.7 per cent.
Wan Hongjian, 52, was stripped of his roles as executive director, deputy chairman and vice-president of WH Group because of his recent misconduct and aggressive behaviour, company says in exchange filing.
China has introduced a new system to manage its pork reserves and stabilise prices for the staple meat, as tumbling prices squeeze small farmers across the world’s second-largest economy.
Wan Long, the 81-year-old chairman and CEO, says the offer will allow investors to either cash in their investment or enjoy higher a return. The stock has underperformed the Hang Seng Index this year and in 2020.
Sluggish demand, increased imports and panic selling by farmers after fresh outbreaks of African swine fever have combined to see wholesale pork prices plunge in China.
New government policy introducing five zones and banning hogs from being moved between zones aims to encourage the transport of pork rather than live pigs.
China’s imports of US soybeans hit the highest monthly total since December 2016 in March, while overall pork imports jumped to an all-time high in March on supply concerns following a resurgence of African swine fever .
Wholesale price of pork has fallen for nine straight weeks, approaching the level from August 2019, but remains twice as high as it was in mid-2018 before the virus hit.
The deadly African swine fever once killed half of China’s pig population, sending the price of pork skyrocketing, and six small outbreaks have been reported since the start of 2021.
China’s official producer price index (PPI) rose to 1.7 per cent in February from a year earlier, while the consumer price index (CPI) eased to minus 0.2 per cent.
Researchers say they have found two variants that spread more easily than the dominant type.
China’s producer price index (PPI) rose to 0.3 per cent in January from a year earlier, compared with minus 0.4 per cent in December, while the consumer price index (CPI) fell to minus 0.3 per cent last month.
Disease was first detected at the facility in Yuen Long last week, triggering two smaller culls.
Amid blistering demand from Chinese importers, and less supply from Russia, Australia has shipped more than 710,000 tonnes of wheat to China since December after sending none for three straight months.
China’s 2020 pork output fell 3.3 per cent from a year earlier to 41.13 million tonnes after plunging 21 per cent in 2019.
