The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, announced on Tuesday that the commission is considering releasing the national pork reserves to prevent a rapid increase in the current price of pork, the commission said via its official WeChat account.
The NDRC is weighing the need to guide the pork release coordinating with local government amid recent plunge in supply of pork, the announcement stated.
The NDRC on Monday held a meeting with major pig breeders to keep pig prices stable and crack down on price gouging, attributing the price surge to irrational hoarding and over-fattening of animals by breeders on the basis of fabricated media reports about exaggerated price rises and demand shortage.
Pork prices in China have gone up recently. The most-active future contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange jumped almost 8 percent on Monday to close at 22,695 yuan ($3,390) per ton, up 40 percent over its low in mid-March.
On Friday, the average pork price tracked by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was 24.55 yuan per kilogram, up 12.9 percent from the previous week.
Chinese vendors sell pork and other meat products at their stalls in a market in Kunming, capital of Southwest China’s Yunnan Province in June. Photo: IC
