China's pork prices continue to fall in April

Special Report: World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu

BEIJING, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Pork prices in China further dropped in April due to over market supply and falling demand, analysts said on Friday.

Statistics released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Thursday showed pork prices in major Chinese cities averaged 10.13 yuan per kg (1.5 U.S. dollars) at the end of April, down 10.4 percent from the same period last year.

The decline led the proportion between pork prices and grain prices to stand at 6.18 to 1, the lowest point since May 2007, gaining on the threshold for hog breeders to earn profit set by the NDRC, which is 6 to 1.

The government will enforce subsidies for the pork production industry if the figure falls below 5 to 1.

Farmers had been raising more hogs since the pork prices began to climb up in the first half of 2007. It may be the major reason for over market supply and price drop since this year, Wang Xiao'e, economic researcher with Beijing Economic Information Center told Xinhua.

Pork prices were also affected by the falling demand in summer, when people tend to eat fewer pork products, said NDRC in a statement posted online late Thursday.

The A/H1N1 flu was also a factor that made people more cautious when choosing meat for meal, according to Wang.

The continuous price fall has already aroused concerns for further drop in CPI (Consumer Price Index) later this year, as the prices of pork, a major meat on Chinese families' dinner table, isa main drive behind CPI changes.

"It will impose large pressure on the country's CPI if the downward trend in pork prices continues," said Wang.

Food prices, a major component of China's CPI, fell 0.7 percent year on year in March, with pork prices down 23 percent.

March's CPI dropped 1.2 percent from a year earlier, falling for a second month this year. Figures for April is expected to come out next week.

Mexico asks WTO to help lift pork import ban

MEXICO CITY, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's Economy Ministry said on Tuesday the government had asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) to help lift import restrictions placed on Mexican pork following a deadly A/H1N1 flu outbreak.

In a letter to the 153 members of the WTO's Sanitary and Hytosanitary Measures Committee, Mexican Economy Ministry added that scientific evidence suggests there is no justification to restrict meat imports, Gerardo Ruiz Mateos, the minister, told a press conference.

Eight nations including Bolivia, Ecuador and Honduras have restricted pork imports from Mexico, which has been the epicenter of the worldwide outbreak killing 29 in the country and one in the United States.

With the eight nations representing less than two percent of Mexico's total pork trade, the ministry is trying to ensure that other nations that account for more trade do not take the same steps.

The ministry had already sent letters to those nations' governments on April 30, which argued that the measures lacked both legal and scientific basis.

The letters also called for an end to all restrictions on Mexican trade unless they were consistent with the scientific information available.

Bolivia bans pork imports from Mexico, USA, Canada

Special Report: World Tackles Swine Flu

LA PAZ, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Bolivia banned Wednesday the imports of pork or sub products from Mexico, the United States and Canadam, a step taken to stop the entrance of swine flu to the country.

All the import requests of pork food must be sent to the National Unit of Animal Safety to be evaluated and wait for authorization, the National Service of Agriculture Sanity and Food Safety (Senasag) said.

The Senasag has ordered district chiefs to take measures regarding with pork food at the international control points, mainly at airports, where the authorities also plan to set high temperature detectors.

The government said they are seeking budget to buy masks, thermometers and antiviral medicine to face the disease.