China’s Hog Prices Fall 28.6%, Dropping Below Chicken for 4 Months

1 articles · Updated · RFD-TV · Jul 25

China’s hog price held near 10 yuan per kilogram from April through June, staying below poultry prices for four straight months and signaling losses across the world’s largest pork industry.
Second-quarter pork output rose 2.3% even as weak consumer demand deepened the glut, a combination that could curb Chinese demand for imported meat.
Large hog inventories are still consuming corn and soybean meal, but sow numbers fell 6.5% to 37.8 million head, suggesting producers may eventually cut output despite productivity gains.
Poultry is adding to the supply pressure: first-half output increased 1.2 million metric tons while imports fell and exports jumped, further narrowing openings for foreign suppliers.
Analysts expect hog prices to hover near break-even through summer, with U.S. producers watching whether herd cuts later lift grain and soybean demand or further shrink meat export prospects.