Feed price drops, production decreases, expensive roasted pigs sold at the Yulan Festival at RM1,260 per 100 kg

July 29, 2022

(Kuala Lumpur, July 29/exclusive report) Chairman of the Malaysian Pork Merchants Association, Zhou Baoyuan, pointed out that although the current pig feed price has dropped, the price of live pigs remains at RM1,260 per 100 kg due to the reduction in production by pig farmers, so consumers will still be able to buy expensive roasted pigs during the upcoming Yulan Festival.

It is reported that this price of live pigs is the highest ever.

In addition, Zhou Baoyuan said that the current live pig price is too high to rise. And pig farmers dare not raise prices for the time being, because the market's digestion capacity is very poor, and the price of chicken has been cheap recently, and many customers have switched to eating chicken.

He mentioned that roasted pork was very popular during the Hungry Ghost Festival in previous years, but this year the price of pork is so high that people will eat less, because it is estimated that the sales volume of roasted pork this year will drop by at least 10% compared to last year.

In a telephone interview with China Press, Zhou Baoyuan said that pork traders have reduced the number of pigs slaughtered and tried not to stock up, because a lot of pork cannot be sold. If the price of pork falls, the traders will face losses.

He mentioned that pork traders had negotiated with pig farmers and asked the latter to set the ceiling price of live pigs at RM1,200 per 100 kilograms, but the pig farmers insisted on adding another RM60.

“In fact, the price of raw materials has fallen. Among them, the price of corn, the main component of pig feed, has fallen by RM400 per ton, but the price of pork has not fallen because the pig farmers said there are no pigs.

”So the association's national members will reduce production (slaughter), after all, everything is expensive. If they don't reduce production, they can't be sold in the market, so they should slaughter as many as they want and don't stock up. “

In addition, Zhou Baoyuan claimed to understand the pig farmers' reduction in production, because many farms had African swine fever and raw material prices had risen earlier, so now pig farmers cannot make pork prices cheap again in a short period of time.

”Currently, many merchants can't catch up with the price. The purchase price is RM1,260, but we can't sell it and can't sell it at this price, so merchants are selling at a small profit to keep customers. “

Zhou Baoyuan hopes that the price of live pigs can drop by at least RM60 to RM100 after the Yulan Festival, because pig farmers increase prices by at least RM100 each time, so the price should drop as much as the pig farmers increase.

”We hope that the price of live pigs will soften after the Yulan Festival, because pig traders have slaughtered fewer pigs, so if the price is not reduced, there will be a lot of pigs piled up. “

He added that the price of live pigs has never risen to RM1,260 per 100 kg in the past decade, and the price of pork in Malaysia is the second highest in the world, with China being the first.

”China has a population of 1.4 billion, and Malaysia has only 6 million Chinese people, but the price of pork in Malaysia ranks second.

“We think this price is too outrageous. Pork in many countries is very cheap, so some pork imported from foreign countries to Malaysia indirectly hits our business, because their pork is around RM5 per kilogram, which is very cheap. ”

News from: https://www.chinapress.com.my/?p=3060276