COFCO Meat's profit surges

The annual net profit of Hong Kong-listed COFCO Meat Holdings Ltd jumped by 530.8 percent year-on-year to 950 million yuan ($138.18 million) in 2016, thanks to the decline in China's population of sows and the rising price of hogs, the company announced on Monday.

COFCO Meat, a subsidiary of China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corp - the country's biggest food trader by sales revenue - said an improvement in hog production efficiency helped lower costs and production volumes rose by 540,000 heads year-on-year.

Ma Jianping, chairman of COFCO Meat, said the company planned to raise annual hog production capacity from 3.5 million at the end of 2016 to 5.5 million in 2020.