Yurun expects higher sales

China Yurun Food Group Ltd, the country's biggest hog processor, said it expects higher sales volumes and improved margins this year as falling pork prices and government stimulus spending spur demand.

"We target a 30-percent gain in sales volume of our frozen and chilled pork, as well as a 10 percent increase in downstream meat products," Chairman Zhu Yicai said yesterday. Prices of pork, China's main meat staple, are expected to fall an average 20 percent this year on ample supply, Zhu said.

Wholesale pork prices in China, the world's largest producer and consumer of the meat, have fallen almost a third from their February 2008 peak as farmers rebuild stocks after diseases and snowstorms decimated herds. Premier Wen Jiabao said this month the nation's 8-percent growth target is within reach with the government pledging 4 trillion yuan of stimulus spending to revive the economy.