China hog futures surge to one-month high on mounting ASF fear

Hog futures listed on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange spiked on Monday to the highest level since its debut a month ago as...

Hog futures listed on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange spiked on Monday to the highest level since its debut a month ago as funds priced in concerns over increasing reports of African swine fever (ASF) cases in the north of the country.

Dalian hog futures soared 4-6% across the board on Monday with the most liquid contract up 4% on the day to CNY26,900/mt ($4,171/mt) by 1500 Beijing time, data from the exchange showed.

“The domestic market seemed to be trading on ASF… hog futures is strong but corn and soymeal were weaker,” said one soymeal trader at a major trading house.

“We heard it was ASF and [pork] producers were actively raising output,” a second trader said.

Animal farming and pork-producing companies could increase pork output amid fears of potentially losing their herd to another wave of ASF in a move that would likely cause soymeal and corn consumption to fall.

Dalian soymeal and corn futures were down by about 1% across the curve on Monday.

China’s hog futures debuted on January 8 and plunged 12% on the first day of trading on expectations that the country’s herd is recovering rapidly in 2021 after huge losses due to the ASF outbreak.

But prices have been rebounding ever since January 25 after Chinese authorities highlighted the first ASF outbreak in three months.

What to read next
Technological advances, policy support and downstream decarbonization efforts are accelerating the shift toward lower-emission ferro-alloys in China. The industry, however, continues to grapple with the challenge of securing price premiums for green materials despite significant investments in new smelting technologies and sustainable supply chains.
Fastmarkets launched three new rare earth prices on Thursday March 19 to cover the global market outside of China to improve transparency in the rare earths magnet supply chain.
The global tungsten market in 2026 is marked by extreme volatility driven by geopolitical tensions, trade disputes, and resource nationalism, especially between China and the US. These dynamics have caused significant supply disruptions and price surges across tungsten products.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ AG-PLM-0019 Refined bleached deodorised (RBD) palm olein assessment for March 16 was delayed due to a reporter error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
Chinese lead smelters turned more bearish on the procurement of raw materials in the week to Friday February 13, amid heightened price volatility in silver, which is often contained in lead ores as an important by-product and contributor to smelter profits, sources told Fastmarkets.
The outbreak of conflict between the US, Israel and Iran on February 28 has brought shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to a near halt, disrupting China’s steel exports to a region that accounted for 14% of its total finished steel export volume in 2025.