1. Price Summary

Snowy weather in the north had discouraged farmers from purchasing piglets and affected cross province deliveries. In the warmer southern regions, buying interest was also low after the week-long Spring Festival holiday.

Market analysis

Markets were quiet during the Spring Festival holiday period. Very few piglets, including crossbreed piglets, were on sale while buyers were also mostly absent.

Concerns that piglets may be prone to diseases in the prevailing cold weather conditions had led buyers to postpone their purchases until warmer weather condition. Buyers want to avoid having to deal with diseases and incurring costs on disease prevention.

In the villages, some backyard farmers have bought piglets to replenish stocks but overall transactions remained low. Many of the new hog raisers in 2005 have incurred losses and they do not expect China's hog market to fare better this year. Stocks of fattened hogs remained high and few farmers have sent their sows for slaughtering. Piglet stocks have also stayed high.

Market forecast

Piglet procurement is likely to pick up as weather conditions turn favourable in spring. However, worries over pig disease in the near term may cause piglet prices to stay range-bound.

Source: eFeedLink - 10th February 2006