Beijing will release 3.05m kg from its frozen pork reserves onto the market, to ease pork supply pressure and contain a price surge, according to media agency Xinhua.
To replenish the supply, the ministry and 12 local governments including Beijing, Zhejiang and Shaanxi have increased the supply of frozen pork from reserves since December 2015. Altogether, about 150,000 tonnes of pork reserves had been released onto the market.
Beijing’s pork prices have been rising since the Lunar New Year due to tight supply, with raw pork prices surging 50.6% month on month in April, according to the Beijing municipal government. Pork prices will stay high this year, but price rises are controllable since the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has taken measures to ensure a stable pork supply, a MOC official said on Thursday, quoted by Xinhua.
The average wholesale pork price hit USD3.96 per kg last week, up 0.4 percent from the previous week, or 14.1 percent higher than the price registered at the beginning of the year, the official told a briefing, citing a nationwide survey conducted by the MOC.
After almost three years of falls, pork prices have been rising for about a year, although at a slower pace since March, according to the MOC. Pig supplies will increase as farmers choose to raise more pigs due to rising prices in the past year, according to the MOC.
Pork is China’s staple meat and its price is subject to a boom-and-bust cycle.
