(Photo: China Daily)Shortage of pigs and rising costs of feed and labor fuel the momentum, report Hu Yongqi in Shandong province and Li Jiabao in Beijing.
Wang Yugui, a farmer in Zibo, Shandong province, has not seen pork prices this high since he started raising pigs in 2001.
When pork hit a record 18.4 yuan ($2.83) a kilogram this month, nearly twice the March 2010 price, Wang decided to sell the 10 pigs he had that weighed more than 100 kg, the market minimum.
However, 60 of his pigs are still underweight. Like more than 1,000 other pig farmers in Zibo, the 50-year-old must wait and risk missing out on turning a profit.
"I hope all our pigs grow to 100 kg so I can sell them at peak price."
There's no way to speed the fattening-up process, but Wang's luck might just hold. Some experts expect pork prices will keep going up for the rest of the year. Good news for those who raise pigs, not for those who buy pork at the grocery store.
"The price increase is a reflection of the pig growth period," said Zhu Baoliang, deputy director of the economic forecasting department at the State Information Center. "It takes about a year and a half for the price to reach the peak from the bottom.
"The price touched bottom in July and then began to pick up. It will keep going up before the next pigs are fattened in six or eight months."
Li Yongqiang is more patient about selling his pigs. He is 62 and has been farming pigs for 21 years. "If I stock the pigs for one more week, each pig will bring me another 100 yuan."
Li sold more than 400 pigs last Thursday. Then he learned that the price has edged up 0.1 yuan a day since early June. A one-week delay in selling his pigs could bring Li 1 or 1.2 yuan more for each kilogram.
Li keeps about 6,000 pigs in his breeding farm in Dasungezhuang village in Beijing's Shunyi district.
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Source:China Daily
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