Rising pressure on farmers prompts shift to selling piglets for quick cash
Although most industry experts believe that pig prices in China will not plummet in the short term, and the state has successively introduced policies to support the construction of large-scale standardized breeding farms and zones, granting subsidies to farmers (farms) at the standard of 100 yuan per breeding sow. However, faced with increasingly high raw material prices and increasingly strict environmental protection indicators, plus the characteristics of a long pig breeding cycle, slow capital recovery, and great difficulty in epidemic prevention and control, many farmers have complained to this writer that the pressure of raising pigs is growing and becoming unbearable. The cycle from birth to market for meat pigs is 5 to 6 months. During this period, they worry about two things every day: first, the occurrence of disease, and second, a sharp drop in pig prices. This kind of worry and panic is especially common among small and medium-sized farmers.
In the first week after National Day, the pig price market was stirred up again. On the 16th, the national average live pig slaughter price fell to 18.36 yuan/kg, setting a new low in recent months. Industry insiders analyzed that the main reason was the small-scale outbreak of disease in some domestic areas, which caused panic selling by farmers in other parts of the country, leading to a sharp decline in pig prices in various places. Industry insiders advised farmers to pay close attention to the occurrence of pig disease in their local and surrounding areas as well as the slaughter and inventory conditions of nearby farmers, and to comprehensively consider profits and risks.
Boss Zhu of a 10,000-head pig farm in Gaozhou, Guangdong Province, was worried at the beginning of the year that an outbreak would cause pig prices to fall and lead to losses, so this year he adopted a business strategy different from previous years——not selling meat pigs, but switching entirely to selling piglets.
“Since the beginning of this year, I have only sold three-way cross piglets around 60 days old and about 30 jin”, Boss Zhu recently told this writer. “Before October this year, each could sell for about 830 yuan, and each piglet could make a profit of 250 to 350 yuan. After National Day it fell to 760 yuan each. Although profit declined slightly, the investment turns into cash quickly, and holding cash in hand feels reassuring.” Not long ago, after selling a truckload of piglets, he immediately picked up a new car from the dealership.
The switch to selling piglets was mainly to ensure profit and avoid risk. Boss Zhu said that when pig prices are high, quickly selling piglets rather than meat pigs can bring capital back faster. The time when pig prices were highest this year was also the season when disease was most likely to break out. Along with piglets, what was also sold off was the pressure of disease prevention and control.
When Boss Zhu made the decision to change, he also considered raw materials and costs: “The longer pigs are raised, the longer the risk exists. Selling piglets can reduce the time of bearing breeding risk by 4 months. Moreover, the price of the raw material corn has been rising all along. The longer you raise them, the less you may earn. We only earn the ‘first bucket of gold’ at the front end, which is relatively safer. At the same time, the smaller the inventory (especially large pigs), the less manure and urine pollutants are discharged, which reduces the consumption of water and electricity and saves costs.” Lin Yuankang Jiang Yongqiang