Economic Observer Online
By Jiang Yunzhang (降蘊彰)
Mar 28, 2012
Translated by Zhu Na
Original Article: [Chinese]

Domestic pork prices have dropped for six successive weeks since February, according to data from soozhu.com, the country’s biggest independent hog researcher. The falling price of pork, which has a large impact on China's inflation indicator, is likely to push first quarter growth in China's CPI to below 4%.

The average price for live hogs dropped to 14.43 yuan per kilogram and pork prices declined to 23.72 yuan per kg on March 27, an early warning for pork vendors.

Feng Yonghui (馮永輝), who is the chief analyst for Soozhu.com, said that after the Spring Festival prices for pig feed rose significantly, especially considering that corn prices grew more than ten perecent in the first quarter.

According to a survey conducted by the network, the profit for raising one pig has fallen to 200 yuan, indicating that small-scale pig farms are about to face losses.

Feng expects that the decrease in pork prices will be difficult to slow down.

Li Guoxiang (李國祥), a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that pork prices had seen the biggest drop of any major agricultural products and, given the impact that the price of pork has on the consumer price index, the CPI figure for the first quarter is likely to come in at below four percent.