The price of pork in China dropped 0.2 percent due to an
increase in supply last week, the Ministry of Commerce announced on
Wednesday.
According to a statement from the ministry, the price index of
agricultural products stood at 110.2 points last week, up 0.1
percent on the previous week.
The prices of food products, cooking oil, processed chicken and
eggs went up while those of pork, vegetables, fruits and sugar
dropped. The price of aquatic products remained stable, said the
statement.
The statement said that despite a rise in supply the price of
eggs would keep going up because of feed price hikes while the
price of pork would become stable.
The prices of pork and eggs have soared in recent weeks on
Chinese market due largely to tight supply and increased production
costs.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in April live pigs
nationwide were priced 71.3 percent higher than a month earlier,
and pork, 29.3 percent higher.
In Beijing, the pork price went up more than 30 percent, while
wholesale prices in Shanghai hit 16 yuan (US$2.1) per kilogram, the
highest in a decade, up 20 percent on the previous month.
The price hikes were caused by a marginal decline in the pig
population this year as pig raisers made losses over the past
couple years and were reluctant to raise pigs, said Xu Lianzhong, a
senior economist with the price supervision center under the
National Development and Reform Commission.
The outbreak of blue ear disease, also known as Porcine
Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), which caused pig
deaths and culling was an immediate cause of the short supply, said
Xu.
(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2007)