China plans to control pig prices, other staple commodities

China’s government said it will take a series of measures to stabilise hog production and pork prices and it will implement further price controls on other key agricultural commodities, the National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC) said Wednesday.

The state planner said it will control pig prices by increasing stock levels and by setting up additional temporary reserves, adjust an early warning system, and improve the governmental work mechanism.

“The outbreak of the African swine fever (ASF) in 2018 have affected the pig production and pork market in an unprecedented way. Therefore, the government’s ability and level to regulate the market by the state reserves should be improved,” the NDRC said in an interview today.

China’s pork industry is recovering rapidly from its deadly ASF epidemic in 2018 and 2019, but hog and pork prices have slumped steeply since March and the Dalian live hog prices continued to hit their lowest levels since their launch in January 2021.

At the same time, the Chinese government said it would also ensure the supply and price stabilisation of other staple commodities by focusing on corn, wheat, edible oil, pork and vegetables, according to a separate release in a national video conference organised by NDRC.

The conference reaffirmed China’s commitment to strengthen the regulation and supervision of the commodity markets.

China’s official Consumer Price Index (CPI), the primary indicator of inflation, grew by 1.3% year-on-year in May, according to data the State Statistics Bureau (NBS) published Wednesday, as the global food and commodity prices rally.

Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI) in May surged 9% on year, increasing inflation concerns in China’s market.