China’s state planner said on Friday it will buy another 40,000 tonnes of frozen pork for state reserves in its fourth round of stockpiling this year to support prices.
Pork prices in the world’s top producer and consumer have hovered at low levels in recent months after production surged while measures to tackle COVID outbreaks hurt demand.
Beijing has already purchased 118,000 tonnes of pork in three prior rounds of stockpiling, a tiny portion of the country’s production.
China produced almost 53 million tonnes of pork last year, an increase of 29% on the prior year.
Hog farmers have been making significant losses on their hog sales since early January, and current lockdowns across the country aimed at curbing COVID outbreaks are further hurting demand.
The National Development and Reform Commission said the purchase would take place in the near future.
It added that live hog prices have been low for a long time and there was little chance of a further sharp decline.
(Reporting by Dominique Patton; editing by Jason Neely and Barbara Lewis)
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