News pork production
Mega pig companies enter the stage in China
Major Chinese pig producers are taking advantage of the high prices in the country. Among others, Muyuan Foods, a company that is on track to become the world's largest pig producer, is seeing sales grow. Where small pig farmers had to stop due to the outbreak of African swine fever, these big players continue.
Due to the high pig prices in China, large pig producers see an opportunity to expand even further. One of these companies is Muyuan Foods. They are well on their way to becoming the world's largest pig producer. The high prices mean that the company's revenue for the first 9 months of 2020 increased by 1,41% to $3,21 billion (US dollar). This has ensured that the company has invested heavily in new pig farms. The investments are estimated at around 6,12 billion, 8 times as much as the company invested 2 years ago.
pig factory
In early March, Muyuan Foods started construction of a mega pig farm in Henan province, near Nanyang city. The company will soon consist of 21 multi-storey buildings that will accommodate 84.000 sows and piglets. With this location, Muyuan Foods is expected to deliver around 2,1 million pigs per year. This makes the location almost 10 times larger than an average breeding farm in the United States. Nowhere in the world are so many pigs kept on one farm. The first building was taken into use last September.
Companies like Muyuan focus their businesses on large-scale, automated farms with a high population density. With this, the major players are creating an ever-increasing contrast in the domestic pig sector. Many small pig farmers have been unable to keep their heads above water due to the African swine fever outbreak. The small companies are disappearing more and more and are being 'replaced' by large production locations such as Muyuan's.
African swine fever
With many Chinese pig farmers still fearful of a new ASF outbreak, Muyuan Foods, among others, has announced that they expect to be able to keep the disease out through the advanced technologies and optimized conditions at the locations. If everything goes according to plan and several large producers follow suit, the demand for meat from China on the international market will decrease considerably.
Jorine Cosse
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