(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-04 21:48

The short supply of live pigs in China will not change "fundamentally" until the second quarter next year, Bi Jingquan, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said on Tuesday.

"Although price hikes of pork and piglets and related governmental policy incentives have encouraged farmers to raise more pigs, pig raising still takes time," Bi told a press conference.

"Since the number of piglets depends on the number of sows in stock, it could take about a year and a half for piglets to grow into sows, which in turn will bear more piglets for sale," he said.

"Despite a decrease in the number of live pigs for sale, the output of beef, mutton, poultry and eggs has been on the rise this year," Bi said, citing the production of milk which has increased 24 percent each year in recent years.

"That is to say, the supply of non-staple food as a whole is sufficient, which will also curb the price hike of pork to some extent," he said.

Due to short supply and mounting production costs, the price of pork, a common food of the Chinese, has almost doubled over the first seven months this year.

In August, however, the pork price had been on the decline for three consecutive weeks, with the price between August 20 and 26 down 3.3 percent week-on-week, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Bi noted that short-term turbulence in the pork market was still "inevitable", adding the demand for pork could rise as the weather becomes cooler and the mid-autumn festival and National Day draw near.

      1   2     

      1   2