BIZCHINA / Center

Pork price drops, egg price keeps rising

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-06-07 10:51

The price of pork in China dropped 0.2 percent due to an increase in
supply last week, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Wednesday.

According to a statement from the ministry, the price index of
agricultural products stood at 110.2 points last week, up 0.1 percent on
the previous week.

The prices of food products, cooking oil, processed chicken and eggs went
up while those of pork, vegetables, fruits and sugar dropped. The price
of aquatic products remained stable, said the statement.

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The statement said that despite a rise in supply the price of eggs would
keep going up because of feed price hikes while the price of pork would
become stable.

The prices of pork and eggs have soared recently on Chinese market due
largely to tight supply and increased production costs.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in April baby pigs nationwide
were priced 71.3 percent higher than a year earlier, live pigs, 45.2
percent higher, and pork 29.3 percent higher.

The price hikes were caused by a marginal decline in the pig population
this year as pig raisers produced losses over the past couple years and
were reluctant to raise pigs, said Xu Lianzhong, a senior economist with
the price supervision center under the National Development and Reform
Commission.

The outbreak of blue ear disease, also known as Porcine Reproductive and
Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), which caused pig deaths and culling was an
immediate cause of the short supply, said Xu.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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