On October 25th, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs holds a release to introduce the agriculture and rural economic situation in the first three quarters of 2019. It is said that hog production has showed signs of a recovery, and beef, mutton and poultry meat production increases even faster. And hog production capacity is expected to bottom out at the end of this year and return to a normal level in 2020.

In a briefing by Director of the Development and Planning Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Wei Baigang, hog number in farms with annually slaughtering over 5,000 pigs posted a month-on-month increase of 0.6% and sows of 3.7% in September. The sales of sows in reserves continued a sharp growth and feed production and sales also increased. The hog herd increased or kept unchanged in Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong and other 9 provinces, with more significant factors for the production recovery. The overall production is now at the turning point for an upward trend. Following this, hog production capacity is hopeful to pick up at the end of this year and return to a normal level in 2020.

The production of poultry meat, beef and mutton has increased quickly in the first three quarters, respectively to 15.39 mln tonnes, 4.58 mln tonnes and 3.30 mln tonnes, an up by 10.2%, 3.2% and 2.3% year on year. 

However, it is still complicated and severe to prevent and control the African swine fever, and it will also take a long time and great efforts to recover production capacity. Some local governments have yet fully implemented policies for hog production, such as the problem of hog farming land, and some people still deliberately transport pigs to other regions and provinces and even carve up the market, which has roiled the normal market supply order. There are still problems to be monitored and solved. (The Beijing News)