Pig farming paid off: in 2015 each pig could earn four to five hundred yuan

For 5 consecutive months, pork prices in Nanjing have been on an upward trend, and pork-related industries also have a “money prospect” that looks excellent. So, have all industries in the pork industry chain made money in this round of soaring meat prices? The actual situation is not so. For pig farms, the profit from pig farming is indeed considerable. At present, a 200-jin slaughter pig can bring a profit of about 500 yuan. However, on the retail side, the rise in meat prices has not brought them much income. “The meat is too expensive, noticeably fewer people are buying than before, sales are poor, and profits are not much better either.” said a meat stall owner at Yingbin Market.

Pig farmers made money! Each pig could earn four to five hundred

“Meat prices came up in the second half of the year, and this year's profit is indeed quite good!” Ge Quansong of Nanjing Runqi Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. built a large-scale pig farm in Zhuzhen, Luhe, and he has another farm in Changzhou. At present, his farm has 6,000 pigs on hand, with 700-800 slaughter pigs going out every month. According to Ge Quansong's estimate, based on this year's market, each slaughter pig can earn an average of 500 yuan.

At the beginning of this year, Ge Quansong's pig farm was rated as a Jiangsu Provincial Demonstration Farm for Ecological and Healthy Animal Husbandry, but the sluggish pork market over the past 3 years still put him under great pressure. “The pig farming industry is like this: generally there is a 4-year cycle, 2 years of small profits, 1 year of big losses, and 1 year of big profits. On average, the profit per pig is 100 yuan-150 yuan.” Ge Quansong said, “This year is a big-profit year for pig farming, and on top of that, pig feed prices have fallen sharply this year, so the cost of pig farming is also lower than last year. Now, each pig of about 200 jin can earn four to five hundred yuan, and larger pigs can even earn seven to eight hundred. On average, the profit per pig is about 500 yuan.” According to Ge Quansong, as long as there is no large-scale disease epidemic this year in pig farming and the pig mortality rate is kept under control, the returns should be quite good. However, across Nanjing, there are not many enterprises like Ge Quansong's that survived the winter of the farming industry. Over the past 3 years, pork prices kept falling, forcing many small and medium-sized farming enterprises to close down, and some large enterprises then began mergers and reorganizations. A nationwide set of data shows that 4 in 10 pig farming enterprises fell before dawn.

At present, Nanjing's daily pig trading volume is about 8,000 head, but with the deepening of urbanization, Nanjing's pig farms have been decreasing year by year, and most pork comes from other places. In such a firm pork market environment, does Ge Quansong's pig farm have plans to expand its inventory? “Expanding inventory requires money to invest, and also depends on whether there are enough pig houses.” According to the original design, Ge Quansong's pig farm can raise at most 20,000 pigs. “The farm's inventory cannot be expanded just because we want to. We plan to increase the inventory to about 10,000 head next year.” As meat prices soared, many farms have begun to hold back pigs from sale in hope of higher prices. Ge Quansong also said: “Our pig farm is different from individual small raisers. Individual households gamble on the market and sell according to meat prices, but our slaughter volume is all planned, and a batch of pigs must go out every few days. The market is relatively good now, so we are even less likely to hold back pigs.”

Retailer profits fell! Meat prices rose, fewer people bought meat

Pork rises every day. By conventional thinking, it should not only be pig farms making money; pork retailers should also be able to make a fortune. But the fact is not so. Because pork prices rose too fast, and the previous two months were also the off-season for pork, the number of people eating meat clearly decreased, and the owners selling pork in vegetable markets directly complained that they could not make money.

“Now buying meat has to be calculated; the price is so high that it is really a bit unaffordable.” Grandpa Li said, shaking his head. Yesterday, there was no pork on their family's menu; instead they bought chicken and fish. Indeed, pig leg meat now sells for 15 yuan per jin, but a whole dressed white-striped chicken is only a bit more than 8 yuan per jin, so it is reasonable for ordinary people to abandon pork. Pork is not selling well; this is almost the common view of all meat stall owners in vegetable markets. “Before, we could sell about one pig a day; now if we can sell half by noon, thank heavens.” said Boss Zhang at Yingbin Market on Nanhu Road. “Do not think we are happy that meat prices rose; actually that is not the case at all. Meat prices rose, our purchase price also rose, but sales are much worse than before, and sometimes we even lose money. Business is really getting harder and harder.” According to data provided by Nanjing Runheng Market, the wholesale price of white-striped pork is currently between 11.5-12 yuan per jin, which means the profit per jin of white-striped pork is about 3 yuan. If transport and stall costs are deducted, the profit per jin of pork is indeed limited. At present, many pork sellers in vegetable markets sell at only 1 yuan above the purchase price.

This is so in vegetable markets, and the situation in supermarkets is not much better. At the Huarun Suguo Yingtian Avenue store, pork turnover is more than 7,000 yuan per day, selling 600 jin a day on average. Zhang Peng, section chief of the fresh food department, told reporters: “Our pork basically has flat gross profit or negative gross profit, and basically does not make money. Because the supermarket has a rule that activities must be held every day, with 6 special-price pork items, and we purchase uniformly. Before being put on the shelf, it needs to go through 3 processing steps, so the cost is also a bit higher than meat in vegetable markets.”

Extended reading

Nanjing's meat prices will not be absurdly high

For ordinary people, who earns and who loses is not what they care about. What they want to know is when pork prices will finally come down after rising for 5 consecutive months. At present, the nationwide upward momentum of pork has slowed, and Nanjing's meat prices have also tended to stabilize. Ge Quansong also said: “Nanjing's meat prices have always been in the lower-middle range in East China, and will not be absurdly high.”

Since the end of July, Nanjing's pork prices finally slowed their upward momentum. The average market price of boneless pig leg meat stayed at 14 yuan per jin for more than a month, and recently rose by 5 mao per jin, also because the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day are approaching and demand has increased. Manager Yan, who is in charge of pork wholesale at Runheng Market, also told reporters that the wholesale price of pork has not moved for almost two months, and meat prices can be considered stabilized. Looking at the national trend, although September was stimulated by the start of school and the two major holidays, meat prices in most provinces fell.

“Rest assured, Nanjing's meat prices will not be too high.” Ge Quansong also has his own judgment on the trend of Nanjing's pork prices. “Nanjing now sells more than 2 million pigs each year, most of them from other places, mostly Anhui and Shandong. The pork market has a characteristic: wherever the price is high, pigs will be sent there. In fact, not all the pigs from our farm are sold in Nanjing; many are sent to Shanghai, because pork there is a bit more expensive.” According to Ge Quansong's analysis, the highway network around Nanjing is well developed. Once pig prices in Nanjing rise, farms in surrounding provinces will definitely sell all their pigs to Nanjing. At present, pig inventory is steadily recovering, and supply is no longer a problem, so Nanjing's meat prices will not surge again.