The National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China (NDRC) is to carry out the first stockpiling and storage of frozen pork reserves after detecting a significant drop in prices.

Specifically, as indicated by the Xinhua news agency, the storage of 20,000 tonnes of pork has been announced to replenish the state reserves and thus try to bring live pig prices “back to a reasonable range as soon as possible”.

The NDRC has also urged local governments to simultaneously purchase and stockpile pork reserves.

They point out that the price of live pigs is at a low level. Specifically, as indicated by the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China, the national average of pork prices against grain prices has fallen below the warning level of 5 to 1.

In accordance with a work plan to stabilise the pork market, China has introduced a three-level early warning system to raise the alarm of excessive rises and falls in pork prices.

China pays close attention to price changes in the pork market and will continue to strengthen the regulation of production capacity and price to keep the market stable.

Price drop in January
In the month of January, the price of pork in China suffered a month-on-month decline of 21.4%. Specifically, the average price index for pork in 16 regions at the provincial level was 19.89 yuan (2.71 euros at the current exchange rate) per kilo in January.

According to the ministry, the price index fell by 23.8 % compared to the same period last year.