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He Huifeng

China will carry out its second round of frozen pork stockpiling this year for state reserves after live hog prices in March fell to their lowest level in nearly eight years, as policymakers seek to cushion a deepening plunge that is hurting rural incomes and adding to deflationary pressure.
The Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that it would work with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance to undertake pork stockpiling.
“The Ministry of Commerce will continue to closely monitor the pork market, strengthen trend analysis, and coordinate with relevant departments to manage reserves and ensure market stability,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.
The authorities’ reserve purchases are typically deployed when hog prices fall quite sharply and trigger official warning mechanisms, making them a closely watched signal of official concern.

Beijing carried out a round of pork stockpiling for its state reserves in March, after undertaking several such purchases last year to stabilise the country’s volatile pork market.
Pork prices have a huge influence on China’s consumer price index (CPI) due to their substantial weight within the food category, as the weighting remains high despite a recent downward revision. The falling prices are also squeezing millions of the country’s pig farmers just as the US-Israel war on Iran is pushing up global oil, grain and feed prices, raising their production costs.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed that the national average hog price fell to 10.68 yuan (US$1.5) per kg in the fourth week of March – down 3.3 per cent from the previous week and 29.8 per cent year on year – to an eight-year low.
The NDRC’s “hog-to-grain ratio”, a key profitability indicator, dropped to 4.40:1 and to 4.23:1 in the third and fourth weeks of March, the lowest since 2019, signalling deep losses across the sector. A ratio below 6:1 is considered a warning level for losses worldwide.
China has been grappling with deflationary pressure in recent years, though it appears to be receding to some extent. The CPI rose 1.3 per cent in February from a year earlier – the largest increase in three years.
The current high hog output was driven by elevated sow inventories from mid-2025, which stood at over 40 million head, according to commodity market information provider Sublime China Information (SCI).
Although China announced the culling of around 1 million hogs in June to curb oversupply, the measure had little effect. Household and restaurant demand for pork fell sharply after Chinese New Year in February, and while slaughter volumes increased, most of the additional pork was used for stockpiling rather than immediate consumption, collectively driving prices lower, according to SCI.
The hog industry was facing severe losses, with rising costs of soymeal and corn further squeezing margins and increasing speculative risks, according to a Huatai Futures report last Saturday.
As of March 19, self-breeding operations were losing an average of 280 yuan per head, the Huatai report added.
SCI analysts said that the April hog output was expected to remain elevated, which would keep pork supply ample and prices likely stuck near current lows.


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China Economy

The national average hog price fell to an eight-year low of 10.68 yuan per kg in the fourth week of March


The national average hog price fell to an eight-year low of 10.68 yuan per kg in the fourth week of March.


China to boost frozen pork reserves as hog prices tumble to multi-year troughs

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The national average hog price fell to an eight-year low of 10.68 yuan per kg in the fourth week of March

The national average hog price fell to an eight-year low of 10.68 yuan per kg in the fourth week of March