China releases 20,000 tons of central pork reserves to stabilize prices
Chinese authorities on Friday stepped up efforts to stabilize pork prices with the release of 20,000 tons of pork from central reserves while reiterating their resolution to combat the fluctuation of pork prices.
A batch of 20,000 tons of pork from central reserves was released for bidding on Friday. It is the sixth batch of central reserves to be released by China in 2022. A total of 107,100 tons of pork have been released into the market in the past five rounds of issuance since September, Beijing News reported.
The issuance of the central pork reserve comes as China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, said that it would step up efforts to stabilize pig prices amid soaring pork prices.
NDRC said on Friday that all localities are required to increase the release of pork reserves in order to meet the demand for key festive consumption such as New Year’s Day and Chinese New Year, and in areas where prices are too high.
The NDRC said that at present, pork reserves at the central and local levels remain sufficient, and there is a solid basis for dealing with the abnormal fluctuation in pork prices.
This is the third remark from the NDRC aimed at stabilizing pork prices in the past three consecutive days, as regulatory authorities sent strong signals that they would maintain the stable operation of the pork market.
The commission on Thursday summoned major domestic hog producers to discuss stabilizing the rapidly rising pork prices to further secure the market supply of the essential product, urging large-scale hog producers not to delay the live hog releasing date or collude in price speculation.
According to the NDRC, in the week of October 10-14, the average weekly retail price of lean pork meat in 36 large- and medium-sized cities rose by more than 40 percent compared with the same period last year, which triggered a firstlevel warning, the commission said in a notice on Wednesday.