China imported significantly more pork in the first quarter of 2020 than last year. Imports of both pork and by-products are higher, according to figures from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture.
China has imported significantly more pork, an increase of 177,6% compared to last year. The import volume of by-products increased by 22,9%. The higher figures are not very striking due to the major meat shortage in the country, but due to the corona crisis and all the logistical problems, the high figures are still above expectations.
Pork
The import of pork in particular has increased sharply. A total of almost 2020 thousand tons of pork was imported in the first three months of 928. This not only means that the level is far above the level of the same period last year (334 thousand tons), but the level is also higher compared to the last quarter of 2019 (668 thousand tons).
The United States is exporting significantly more pork to China, with an increase of over 600%. This increase was caused by the trade war with China, which has been canceled since the beginning of this year. There is also a significant increase in export volume from Mexico and Portugal. In 2019 they only exported a small amount of pork, making the percentage increase very large.
| Nations | Q1 2019 | Q1 2020 | % change |
| Spain | 68.418 | 179.183 | 148,7%. |
| USA | 22.812 | 167.955 | 636,3%. |
| Germany | 61.152 | 149.114 | 143,8%. |
| Brazil | 31.814 | 85.668 | 169.3%. |
| Denmark | 17.485 | 84.953 | 358,9%. |
| The Netherlands | 24.960 | 70.066 | 180,7%. |
| Canada | 52.838 | 56.763 | 7,4%. |
| Chili | 12.593 | 30.993 | 146,1%. |
| France | 14.728 | 29.785 | 102,2%. |
| United Kingdom | 14.520 | 26.681 | 83,8%. |
| Mexico | 970 | 18.983 | 1857%. |
| Ireland | 9.416 | 16.140 | 71,4%. |
| Austria | 1.673 | 8.758 | 423,5%. |
| Portugal | 150 | 3.867 | 2478%. |
| Finland | 730 | 3.660 | 401,4%. |
| Argentina | - | 2.293 | - |
| Italy | - | 1.783 | - |
| Other | - | 271 | - |
| Total | 334.259 | 927.916 | 177,6%. |
By-products
The import quantity of by-products has also increased compared to last year. However, the ratio from quarter to quarter is somewhat more stable than the ratios of pork imports. In the first three months of 2020, 264 thousand tons of by-products were imported, which is higher than in the first quarter of 2019 (215 thousand tons), but remains comparable to the level of the other quarters of 2019.
Unlike pork imports, the import volume of by-products from every country has not increased. A number of countries such as Canada, France, Chile and Ireland exported less meat to China in the first quarter of 2020 than in 2019.
| Nations | Q1 2019 | Q1 2020 | % change |
| Germany | 35.143 | 53.783 | 53,1%. |
| USA | 23.933 | 43.621 | 82,3%. |
| Spain | 25.410 | 43.169 | 69,9%. |
| Denmark | 31.792 | 32.529 | 2,3%. |
| The Netherlands | 26.305 | 30.403 | 15,6%. |
| Canada | 33.829 | 17.523 | -48,2% |
| France | 13.862 | 13.333 | -3,8% |
| United Kingdom | 8.955 | 11.193 | 25%. |
| Chili | 8.582 | 8.286 | -3,4% |
| Ireland | 6.075 | 5.573 | -8,3% |
| Finland | 843 | 1.761 | 108,9%. |
| Italy | - | 1.634 | - |
| Brazil | - | 957 | - |
| Mexico | 262 | 531 | 102,7%. |
| Other | - | - | - |
| Total | 214.991 | 264.306 | 22,9%. |
Hong Kong and Japan
Hong Kong also imported more pork at the beginning of 2020 than last year. The import volume of pork there has increased by 28,2% and the import of its by-products has achieved an increase of 9,9%.
However, the import quantity of pork in Japan is lower than last year. The volume of total imported pork decreased by 3,5%.