China reaches record pork production in almost 10 years

Overall, this is 4.6 percent more than what was released in 2022. Unfortunately, it is clarified that the reason was not at all rosy. Livestock farmers had to sharply increase the slaughter of livestock due to its oversupply, and also to reduce losses from last year's numerous outbreaks of African swine fever. The most active stage of slaughter occurred in the last quarter of the year. Thanks to this, production for that period increased by seven percent to 14.93 million tons. However, judging by the numbers, this may not have been the highest quarterly figure. This may mean that the strongest wave of the disease occurred during the rest of last year, causing greater livestock losses.

The total number of pigs, according to NBS, over the past year decreased by 4.1 percent or to 434.22 million heads. However, the increased demand for the MEAT of these animals, which was usually observed during the winter season for the production of pork sausages or shortly before the Lunar New Year, did not occur this time. This situation had a negative impact on prices. The price of last year's pork futures contract fell 38 percent due to excess supply to its lowest level since 2021, when contracts for the meat began trading. According to Huachuang Securities, which was also cited by AfterShock, long-term losses "have led to constrained cash flow in the industry."

The country's production of other main types of meat has also increased significantly. In particular, poultry was produced by 4.9 percent more or 25.63 million tons. The figure for beef increased by 4.8 percent to 7.53, and lamb - by 1.3 to 5.31 million tons.