THE prices of pork and eggs have soared in past weeks across China due largely to tighter supplies and increasing production costs.
Sources with the Ministry of Agriculture said on Wednesday that if the prices remain high, the country's consumer price index, a major indicator of inflation, will be affected. The CPI monthly growth rate reached the alarming level of three percent in April.
Food products account for 33 percent of the CPI in China with meat, poultry and related products making up about 20 percent.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, live pigs nationwide were 71.3 percent more expensive than a month earlier, and pork, 29.3 percent higher.
In Beijing, the price of slaughtered pigs went up more than 30 percent in recent days, while that of eggs rose to a five-year high.
Wholesale pork prices in Shanghai hit 16 yuan (US$2.1) per kilogram this month, a 10-year high and a 20 percent jump from April.
The wholesale price was even higher in Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang Province.
"I bought pork at 17 yuan per kilogram from a distributor on Monday, and the price keeps changing. I have no choice but to raise retail prices," said Jin Qiuhua, a local retailer, at a pork stand in a wet market in Hangzhou.
"I've sold pork for more than 20 years, such a continuous price hike was only seen in 1994," said Lu Youzhong, another pork retailer in the city.
An outbreak of blue ear disease, also known as Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, among pigs in Guangdong Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, causing many deaths and a large amount of pigs to be culled, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, which is in charge of agricultural production and animal husbandry, declined to comment on the issue.
The outbreak caused a supply shortage, forcing suppliers to buy pigs from northern provinces, according to Xu Lianzhong, a senior economist with the price supervision center under the National Development and Reform Commission.
"This sent a strong signal for distributors to jack up prices," said Xu, adding that this exacerbated the unbalanced supply and demand.
"Pig raisers have lost money in the past couple years and they are reluctant to raise pigs. This led to a marginal decline in live pigs this year."
Still worse, edible oil and grain prices rose at the beginning of this year, and feed prices followed suit.
Grain prices have risen largely due to an anticipated decline in output this summer and will continue to increase slightly in the coming weeks, boosting the prices of pork and eggs, Xu said.
The price of eggs rose 30.9 percent in April, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.