Has China's Pork Consumption Peaked?
China's pork consumption has reached a plateau, according to a Farmer's Daily article last week . This is the second time State media have broadcast this message in 2022 as officials try to reassure consumers tired of high meat prices and rein in a mostly private-sector pork industry. The Farmers Daily piece was based on an interview with Zhu Zengyong, a pork industry analyst who is the go-to source for all articles in state-run media on pork. Zhu stressed that pork's share of meat consumption has fallen from 65% to less than 60% in the last decade while poultry has grown to 25-30% and beef and mutton are up to about 15% of meat consumption. He expects steady annual pork consumption at 55-to-56 million tons in the future as population growth offsets a declining trend in per capita consumption. Zhu blamed short-term fluctuations in pork prices on the pandemic, highlighting the closure of cafeterias and intermittent interruptions of pork distribution as factors affecting pr...