Adds milestone, details
Jan 17 (Reuters) – China’s 2022 pork output increased by 4.6% on the year before to reach the highest level since 2014, official data showed on Tuesday, confounding expectations of smaller rise.
Pork output in the world’s top producer of the meat reached 55.41 million tonnes, the highest since the 56.71 million tonnes recorded eight years ago.
The high output was helped by large production in the fourth quarter of 13.91 million tonnes, according to Reuters calculations of the data from the National Bureau of Statistics, 0.87% higher than the same quarter a year earlier.
The high output came as farmers sold off hogs that had been raised to heavier weights in the second half to benefit from an anticipated recovery in demand and prices.
Demand had however remained tepid due to a surge of COVID-19 cases in China that kept most people at home, causing prices to plunge.
China’s overall pig herd increased by 0.7% during 2022 to reach 452.56 million head, the National Bureau of Statistics also said.
(Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christopher Cushing)
((dominique.patton@thomsonreuters.com;))
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