China’s Pork Prices Continue to Decline, Suggesting Sagging Consumer Confidence

China’s pork prices have been declining all year are likely set to drop even lower, with government efforts to cull the breeding herd and a seasonal demand boost not enough to arrest the slide, Bloomberg reported. “Wholesale prices have dropped 18% so far in 2025 and are at the lowest level in more than three years. Consumption of China’s most popular protein normally picks up as temperatures cool, but the declines highlight how fragile consumer sentiment is at the moment. A trade truce with the U.S. has restored a semblance of economic calm, but the property-market slump and a weak jobs market mean consumers aren’t splashing out just yet. With the 5% GDP growth target for 2025 in sight, Beijing also appears likely to hold back on stimulus, although that leaves room for support early next year,” Bloomberg Economics said. China’s restaurants and retailers should be starting to stock up on supplies for winter and the upcoming holidays, when Chinese people go out for meals more and also entertain at home. But the external environment as well as an oversupply of hogs means pork prices will likely keep dropping this month, according to commodities consultancy Mysteel. Beijing has been pushing this year for major hog producers to cut their breeding herds, along with other measures to tackle oversupply. Sow numbers were down 2.1% at the end of October from a year earlier, according to government data, but the drop hasn’t been big enough to have a meaningful impact on pork prices.
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