Heed lessons of the pork price hike

THE COMMERCE MINISTRY said it has been closely following the rising price of pork in the market, and will put more frozen pork, beef and lamb reserved by the central government into the market to increase the supply of meat. The 21st Century Business Herald comments:

The outbreak of African swine fever last year has brought down the breeding stock of pigs in China. In October last year, the number of reproductive sows decreased by 5.9 percent year-on-year, breaking the 5 percent warning line. The decrease has been expanding continuously ever since, hitting 26.7 percent in June. Since it takes at least 10 months for piglets to mature, and the fall in the number of sows has not been checked, the supply of pork will continue to slip for months.

But history shows when the price of pork goes up, the pig farming industry will increase its investment to quickly expand their breeding scale to gain from high prices, and with the increase of supply, the price of pork will decline soon.