Chicken prices stabilize and rebound; Ministry of Agriculture says support policies are showing initial results

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 17 (Reporter Dong Jun) - Affected by the H7N9 avian influenza outbreak, chicken prices across the country continued to decline in the previous period. Recently, stimulated by favorable national policies supporting the development of the poultry industry, chicken prices have shown signs of stabilizing and rebounding.

    According to data provided on the 17th by the Market and Economic Information Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, before the Spring Festival, dressed chicken prices fluctuated upward, reaching this year's highest level of 15.52 yuan per kg on February 13, then fluctuated downward, reaching this year's lowest price of 12.97 yuan on May 12, and rebounding to 13.51 yuan on May 15, but still 4.2% lower than the same period last year.

    In terms of transaction volume, trading volume began to shrink rapidly from week 13 (March 25-31), reaching this year's minimum in week 18, only 41.3% of week 13, and a decrease of 68.8% compared with the same period last year. In week 19 (May 6-12), trading volume rebounded 25.6% from the previous week, but was still 67.2% lower than the same period last year.

    Bi Meijia, Chief Economist of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that since the occurrence of human cases of H7N9 avian influenza virus infection, the poultry industry has been severely impacted. The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the development of the poultry industry. On May 8, the State Council held an executive meeting to study the issue of stabilizing the development of the poultry industry and introduced support policies for poultry production, providing one-time subsidies to grandparent breeder chicken enterprises, and short-term interest subsidies for working capital loans to key leading enterprises in poultry processing.

    While the central government increased policy support for the poultry industry, 4 provinces - Henan, Shandong, Chongqing and Guangxi - recently issued documents in the name of their governments, introducing support policies such as subsidies for breeding poultry farms and breeding farms, and subsidies for enterprise purchasing and processing. So far, 10 provinces have successively introduced support policies for poultry production.

⟧    The turn of spring and summer is the peak season for restocking and raising poultry, and protecting the basic production capacity of breeding poultry is an urgent task. Recently, animal husbandry and veterinary departments at all levels will actively cooperate with relevant departments to promptly implement the central and local policies and measures supporting poultry production, deliver the policies to poultry enterprises and breeding farms and households as soon as possible, protect the enthusiasm of poultry enterprises and breeding farms and households, strive to reduce losses in the poultry industry, and promote the recovery and development of the poultry industry.