Fragmented Meat Market Awaits Breakthrough, China's Industry Concentration Urgently Needs Improvement
The 2015 China International Meat “Two Conferences and One Festival” press conference was recently held in Qingdao, Shandong Province.
At the meeting, statistics from the China Meat Association showed that in the first quarter of this year, the number of slaughter and meat processing enterprises above designated size nationwide decreased compared with the same period, with March seeing a reduction of 53 compared with February. “Enhancing the industrial concentration of the slaughter industry, accelerating the phase-out of outdated decentralized slaughter methods; improving the quality of domestic meat, reducing costs, and increasing competitiveness against imported meat have become important factors for China's slaughter and meat processing enterprises to solve their difficulties.” This was the consensus reached by attending representatives.
Enhance the industrial concentration of the slaughter industry, accelerate the phase-out of decentralized slaughter methods
It is reported that due to the scattered sources of pigs, many enterprises above designated size have a utilization rate of modern deep processing of around 30%. In the first quarter of this year, in beef cattle slaughtering, there were more than 2,000 enterprises, with fewer than 200 above designated size, accounting for about 10%. In terms of poultry slaughtering, apart from 851 enterprises above designated size, most are state-owned enterprises and listed companies. “The fragmented market landscape makes it difficult to expand large-scale, standardized, industrialized, and modernized slaughter methods, and the trend of losses and decreasing numbers among enterprises above designated size is difficult to reverse.” Gao Guan, deputy secretary-general of the China Meat Association, believes that enterprises should follow national industrial restructuring policies, enhance the industrial concentration of the slaughter industry, accelerate the phase-out of outdated decentralized slaughter methods, and further increase their concentration in meat market sales.
⟦NL> Meat supply must be solved domestically, competitiveness urgently needs improvement
In the first quarter, both the slaughter volume of enterprises above designated size and the harmless treatment volume of diseased pigs declined. Under China's traditional industrial landscape dominated by scattered farming and manual slaughtering, enterprises above designated size must not only compete with small and micro enterprises for live pig resources, but also compete with imported meat from abroad. Last year, despite the sluggish domestic pork prices, China still imported 1.37 million tons of pork. In 2014, total meat imports reached 2.44 million tons, exports were 810,000 tons, and the import-export trade deficit was 1.63 million tons, of which the pork trade deficit accounted for more than 70% of the total. Gao Guan stated that China's enterprises above designated size need to improve meat quality while reducing costs, further increasing the competitiveness of domestic meat.
“Since the 12th Five-Year Plan”, China's meat import scale has grown larger and larger, and the trade deficit has also grown larger and larger. Chen Wei, executive vice president and secretary-general of the China Meat Association, proposed that “China's meat supply problem must be solved domestically, and we absolutely cannot rely on imports. From the phenomenon of the trade deficit increasing year by year, this should serve as a wake-up call for industry colleagues.”
Global meat food safety risks require strengthened strict control and management
In recent years, quality management throughout the meat industry and food safety risk control in the meat industry chain have become increasingly difficult. Meat food safety has become an important issue facing the global meat food industry. At the meeting, Wei Renwei, senior vice president of the North American Meat Association, stated that China and the United States, as major countries in the world, should make good use of their own resources, jointly discuss and study meat food safety issues, and provide experience for the global meat industry chain.
It is reported that in order to accelerate the upgrading and structural adjustment of China's meat food industry, improve the level of meat food safety, and promote exchanges and cooperation with meat industries around the world, the China Meat Association, together with the World Meat Organization, will hold the China Meat Food Industry Development Conference on September 19 in Qingdao; and from September 20 to 22, hold the 13th China International Meat Industry Exhibition and the 10th China International Meat Food Culture Festival at the Qingdao International Convention and Exhibition Center. The conference will invite government officials, industry experts, senior scholars, renowned entrepreneurs, and other domestic and international meat industry colleagues to jointly study and discuss industry chain management experience, risk prevention and control measures, and industry development trends around food safety issues, and to put forward policy recommendations for formulating China's meat industry “13th Five-Year Plan” development plan.