The data released by the Ministry of Commerce yesterday showed that the wholesale price of pork continued to fall in the week from July 25 to 31. This was the second consecutive week of decline in pork prices since July 18-24.

According to the data, the wholesale price of pork was 25.98 yuan per kilogram last week, down 0.5% from the previous week, and the decline was 0.3 percentage points higher. In the previous week, pork prices fell for the first time this year due to the slight increase in local pork market supply and the sluggish market demand.

In addition to pork, beef, mutton, and white striped chickens continued to rise during the week, but the gains narrowed; continued high temperatures led to a decline in egg production, and retail prices of eggs rose by 0.8%, up 2.3% from late June. In addition, the average wholesale price of 18 kinds of vegetables decreased by 3.1% from the previous week.

On July 28, the General Office of the State Council issued a circular, which requires all regions and relevant departments to adopt eight measures to continue to promote steady, healthy and sustainable development of hog production, and prevent market supply and price fluctuations. Mao Changqing, an analyst at CITIC Securities, believes that pork prices will continue to increase due to the delay in the arrival of pigs to the market. However, in the short term, in order to prevent the hog prices from continuing to rise sharply, local governments may increase their reserves of frozen meat, and hog prices may be adjusted, but the margin is limited.