China's pig herd size will remain in surplus this year despite target to reduce number of sows
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Published Mar 28, 2024
Tridge summary
China's pig industry is grappling with a surplus of herds this year, despite governmental efforts to mitigate the situation by lowering the national breeding stock target. The sector is challenged by low pig prices, increasing debts, and losses stemming from aggressive expansion and diminishing demand. In response, companies are offloading farms, particularly those vulnerable to African swine fever, as a cost-reduction strategy. Nevertheless, the reluctance to decrease herd sizes, coupled with high female productivity, is expected to maintain the surplus, keeping prices depressed. Experts advocate for a further reduction in breeding stock targets to 35 million to effectively tackle the oversupply. The market is anticipated to shift from a bear to a bull market gradually, with a slow uptick in consumption and prices.
Disclaimer: The above summary was generated by a state-of-the-art LLM model and is intended for informational purposes only. It is recommended that readers refer to the original article for more context.
Original content
By Mei Mei Chu BEIJING (Reuters) - China's pig herds will remain in surplus this year despite new government targets to control oversupply, industry officials said, as the world's biggest pig farmer struggles to stage a recovery due to low prices of pigs for several years. Pig companies in China sold farms and holdings last year to raise cash, after an aggressive expansion drive led to falling hog prices, rising debt and mounting losses as demand waned. In response, Beijing reduced the national target for normal breeding stock retention from 41 million to 39 million, to control the expansion of the country's production capacity. But increasingly productive females and companies' reluctance to reduce herds will keep herd sizes high and prices low. "We will have to continue to further reduce the sow herd... Objectively, 39 million females will still lead to a surplus, the rate of decline is still not enough," an official at a large livestock company told Reuters. He declined to be ...
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