Sounder approach urged for mainland hogs industry

Agriculture Minister Han Jun has urged the hogs industry to meet production-capacity reduction targets and scale the breeding sow herd to a reasonable level as hog prices languished at low levels. Han met with industry representatives with a message to co-ordinate the advancement of capacity regulation and upgrade the industry to reduce cyclical volatility, the ⁠ministry said late on Friday. Home to half the world's pigs, China's massive hog sector is struggling with overcapacity and weak consumer demand. Pig ⁠prices are hovering at a low level ⁠due to high production capacity ⁠and an inertia-driven increase in market supply, the ministry cited experts at the meeting as saying. The ⁠most-active live hog futures ‌contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange touched its lowest level since the inception of the ‌futures in January 2021 at 9,000 yuan per tonne on ⁠April 13. Prices then climbed to their strongest since March 9 at 11,295 yuan per tonne on April 17, supported by concerns over potentially reduced ‌supply due to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the northwest region. "Leading enterprises must take the lead in implementing capacity reduction requirements and refrain from reckless expansion," the statement said. The ⁠meeting ‌called for the need to accelerate the ‌culling of low-yielding, aging sows and weak piglets as they seek tighter policies to control ‌production capacity. The industry will also promote independent innovation in breeding, vigorously promote low-protein diet technology, and continuously improve the level of breeding standardisation ⁠and intelligence, the ministry said. (Reuters) Edited by Thomas McAlinden