The Paper.cn:

We have noticed that pork prices are still low, and pig farming has suffered losses for a long time. How will this affect pig production? What measures will the MARA take to ensure the supply of pigs? Thank you. 

Lei Liugong:

Thank you for your attention. The market supply of pork was sufficient in 2023. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, annual pork output stood at 57.94 million metric tons, up 4.6% year on year, reaching the highest level since 2015. On the other hand, pork prices have stayed at a low level for a long time. For consumers, they can have access to affordable pork, while for farmers, it has brought a tough time. In terms of revenues of pig farming, the average loss per head throughout the year was 76 yuan. This was also the first year since 2014 that the general ledger suffered a full-year loss. It should also be noted that the industry has been advanced in adversity. As estimated, over 68% of pig farming was carried out on a large scale in 2023, an increase of about 3 percentage points from 2022. The production efficiency of breeding sows continued to improve, laying a solid foundation for the sustained and healthy development of the pig industry.

In response to the overproduction of pigs and continued losses in pig farming, the MARA has guided localities to strengthen regulations regarding pig production, ensure stability in fundamental policies concerning land use, environmental protection, and finance, continue to improve information monitoring and early warning systems, and encourage farmers to adaptively reduce production capacity and sell pigs in a timely manner, in a bid to accelerate the return of supply and demand to equilibrium. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, at the end of December 2023, the number of breeding sow stocks reached 41.42 million, which was 2.5 million fewer than the highest point at the end of December 2022.

With regard to the future development trend, we recently organized experts, industry associations, and key enterprises to hold a discussion about it. In December 2023, the stocks of big pigs in large-scale breeding farms grew 3.7% year on year. These pigs will be ready for slaughter in one to two months, so it's expected that pig supplies will still be sufficient and that pig farming is likely to continue to suffer losses after the Spring Festival. Meanwhile, we should also see that as the number of breeding sows decreases, the number of newborn piglets will fall accordingly. According to our monitoring, since last October, the number of newborn piglets nationwide has fallen year on year, indicating that we have made progress in production capacity reduction. As the pig production capacity gradually returns to a reasonable level, the pig market is expected to be better in the second quarter than the same period last year.

Next, we will focus on three aspects to advance the steady development of pig production. First, we will step up monitoring. We will guide farmers to sell pigs in a timely manner, in case they blindly delay sales so that pig prices could not return to normal. We will keep a close eye on the changes in the stocks of breeding sows nationwide, issue early warnings at appropriate times, and guide farmers to reasonably arrange production. Second, we will optimize production capacity. We will improve measures to regulate pig production, see that local governments fulfill their responsibilities for ensuring stable production and sufficient supply of pigs, stabilize long-term supportive policies concerning land, environmental protection, and finance, and urge timely adoption of policies and measures including subsidies, credit, and interest discounts to ensure that pig production stays in a reasonable range. Third, we will work to prevent animal epidemics. We will enhance guidance on the prevention and control of swine diseases in spring, focus on the prevention and control of major animal epidemics, carry out the monitoring and investigation of epidemics, step up supervision over key links, including quarantine, transportation, and slaughter, and verify and respond to epidemics in a timely manner. Thank you.

Xie Yingjun:

The last two questions, please.