News Pigs
China increases pig slaughter by millions
Despite the fact that pig prices in China have been under pressure for almost a year, pig production is still expanding considerably. Millions more pigs were slaughtered in the first quarter of 2022 than in the first quarter of 2021.
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This is evident from figures from the Chinese Bureau of Statistics. Pork production amounted to 15,6 million tons, about 14% above the level in the same period last year. It was also the highest quarterly production since the fourth quarter of 2018, just after the first outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) in the country. Moreover, production in the first quarter is now again above that of the first quarters in the pre-AVP years 2017 and 2018. A spokesperson for the Chinese ministry points out that the high production is related to the large sow herd in the country during the second quarter. of 2021.
Number of slaughters also increases 14%
Ultimately, 195 million pigs were slaughtered in the first quarter. That was about 24 million more than in the first quarter of 2021. The large pig companies in particular seem to be increasingly expanding their production, regardless of the market situation.
According to figures also published on the number of pigs in the country, the poor market situation now appears to be slowly influencing the size of the pig herd. The Chinese Statistical Bureau estimates the number of pigs at the end of March at a total of 422,5 million pigs. That is about 27 million fewer than the 449,2 million pigs counted at the end of December. It is possible that the number of slaughters is currently approaching a peak.