China's Live Hog Prices Plummet; Officials Urge Price Recovery
China's live hog prices continue to fall, prompting officials to call for improved policies to regulate production capacity and take measures to promote a reasonable recovery in prices.
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- 📰 Published: April 20, 2026 at 15:48
- 🔍 Collected: April 20, 2026 at 16:01 (12 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 20, 2026 at 16:04 (2 min after Collected)
(Central News Agency, Taipei, April 20) Amidst a continued decline in China's live hog prices, officials have called for further improvement of comprehensive policies to regulate hog production capacity and for measures to promote a reasonable recovery in hog prices.
State media Xinhua reported on April 18th that the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recently held a symposium on the development of the hog industry, emphasizing the need to further improve comprehensive policies for regulating hog production capacity and to adopt strong and effective measures to promote a reasonable recovery in hog prices.
The meeting proposed several measures, including accelerating the phasing out of low-yield, aging, and highly fertile sows, and strictly controlling new production capacity. It also urged guidance for breeding enterprises to market their hogs according to market conditions, with leading enterprises taking the lead in implementing production capacity reduction requirements and restraining blind expansion.
The meeting also stated the need to release positive policy signals, boost market confidence, reduce secondary breeding, and prevent disorderly marketing. It also called for increased monitoring and early warning of hog production and guidance for leading enterprises to drive standardized and large-scale farming through methods such as contract farming.
Chinese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Jun said that all levels of responsibility must be tightly implemented to ensure that production capacity reduction tasks are completed and that the breeding sow inventory is adjusted to a reasonable level, reducing cyclical fluctuations in the hog industry.
This is the second meeting convened by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs within a month regarding hog production capacity. In March, relevant departments of China's National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs organized a symposium with hog breeding enterprises to analyze price trends and arrange market regulation work.
China's hog inventory accounts for about half of the global total, but the vast pig farming industry is facing dual pressures of overcapacity and weak consumer demand.
According to monitoring by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, in the second week of April, China's live hog prices continued to decline, averaging 10.03 yuan per kilogram, marking the 10th consecutive week of decline and hitting a 7-year low.
The most active hog futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange once fell to 9,000 yuan per ton on the 13th, the lowest level since the futures contract was launched in January 2021.
As prices hit new lows, the hog farming industry has fallen into losses, with some farmers beginning to reduce capacity.
CCTV Finance recently reported that Cui Yantao, a hog farmer in Wucheng County, Dezhou, Shandong, said that market prices for live hogs continue to hit the bottom, while costs for feed and labor are constantly rising. It takes 750 to 850 jin of feed to raise one fattened pig, with costs approaching 1,000 yuan. "With a selling price of 4.6 yuan per jin, we lose nearly 500 yuan on each pig."
In Xiangyang, Hubei, small and medium-sized farmers and large pig enterprises have also begun to reduce production capacity. Local farmer Geng Quanhe said, "We are losing particularly badly this year, losing 250 to 300 yuan on each pig."
Wang Zuli, a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, analyzed that in the short term, hog prices are still in a 'bottoming-out' period of oscillation and consolidation. Farmers lose an average of over 300 yuan for each commercial hog they market. Based on historical experience, the current hog farming industry is in a relatively severe loss state. (Editor: Zhou Huiying / Chen Kaiyu) 1150420
State media Xinhua reported on April 18th that the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recently held a symposium on the development of the hog industry, emphasizing the need to further improve comprehensive policies for regulating hog production capacity and to adopt strong and effective measures to promote a reasonable recovery in hog prices.
The meeting proposed several measures, including accelerating the phasing out of low-yield, aging, and highly fertile sows, and strictly controlling new production capacity. It also urged guidance for breeding enterprises to market their hogs according to market conditions, with leading enterprises taking the lead in implementing production capacity reduction requirements and restraining blind expansion.
The meeting also stated the need to release positive policy signals, boost market confidence, reduce secondary breeding, and prevent disorderly marketing. It also called for increased monitoring and early warning of hog production and guidance for leading enterprises to drive standardized and large-scale farming through methods such as contract farming.
Chinese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Jun said that all levels of responsibility must be tightly implemented to ensure that production capacity reduction tasks are completed and that the breeding sow inventory is adjusted to a reasonable level, reducing cyclical fluctuations in the hog industry.
This is the second meeting convened by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs within a month regarding hog production capacity. In March, relevant departments of China's National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs organized a symposium with hog breeding enterprises to analyze price trends and arrange market regulation work.
China's hog inventory accounts for about half of the global total, but the vast pig farming industry is facing dual pressures of overcapacity and weak consumer demand.
According to monitoring by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, in the second week of April, China's live hog prices continued to decline, averaging 10.03 yuan per kilogram, marking the 10th consecutive week of decline and hitting a 7-year low.
The most active hog futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange once fell to 9,000 yuan per ton on the 13th, the lowest level since the futures contract was launched in January 2021.
As prices hit new lows, the hog farming industry has fallen into losses, with some farmers beginning to reduce capacity.
CCTV Finance recently reported that Cui Yantao, a hog farmer in Wucheng County, Dezhou, Shandong, said that market prices for live hogs continue to hit the bottom, while costs for feed and labor are constantly rising. It takes 750 to 850 jin of feed to raise one fattened pig, with costs approaching 1,000 yuan. "With a selling price of 4.6 yuan per jin, we lose nearly 500 yuan on each pig."
In Xiangyang, Hubei, small and medium-sized farmers and large pig enterprises have also begun to reduce production capacity. Local farmer Geng Quanhe said, "We are losing particularly badly this year, losing 250 to 300 yuan on each pig."
Wang Zuli, a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, analyzed that in the short term, hog prices are still in a 'bottoming-out' period of oscillation and consolidation. Farmers lose an average of over 300 yuan for each commercial hog they market. Based on historical experience, the current hog farming industry is in a relatively severe loss state. (Editor: Zhou Huiying / Chen Kaiyu) 1150420