In 2025, the prices of livestock products in China continue to decline. On Tuesday, December 2, the price of live pigs dropped by 30% compared to the same period last year. Since the second half of this year, prices of pork, chicken, lamb, and eggs have been continuously decreasing, leading to losses for both large-scale farming corporations and individual farmers.
Some bloggers expressed their concerns, stating that “Next year, we may not see many ordinary people raising pigs anymore,” and described the industry as full of lamentation and silence: “No matter what you raise, you are losing money.”
According to data from a Chinese pig farming website, on Tuesday, the domestic price of live pigs (crossbred pigs of three varieties) was reported at 11.47 yuan per kilogram, representing a 30.32% year-on-year decrease and a 7.95% decrease compared to the previous period. As of November 27 (last Thursday), the national average price of live pigs was 11.35 yuan per kilogram, a 31.3% decrease year-on-year.
The decline in live pig prices started in May this year. According to the pricing data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, from May to October, the prices of live pigs dropped by 4.1%, 14.6%, 19.3%, 26.4%, 26.0%, and 27.9% year-on-year.
The prices of pork have also decreased in tandem with live pig prices. From May to October, the market prices of pork (boneless pork) have dropped by 0.4%, 11.4%, 15.3%, 22.5%, 22.6%, and 22.7% respectively.
An analysis by “First Finance” on Tuesday pointed out that a severe imbalance between supply and demand is the core reason for the low pig prices. The massive capacity expansion in the industry earlier has led to a continuous oversupply situation.
China International Capital Corporation Securities believes that in the short term, live pig prices still have room to decline. Recently, industry capacity has been reduced under policy control and supply pressure. With prices falling below the full cost line, the industry is expected to continue facing losses and reducing capacity in the foreseeable future.
Not only the pig farming industry is facing oversupply and continuous price decline, but the chicken industry is also experiencing similar challenges.
According to “Dahe News,” the prices of eggs in some regions have dropped below the threshold of 3 yuan per half a kilogram. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs shows that in October this year, the wholesale price of eggs in China plummeted by 26.56% year-on-year.
Zhao, a livestock farmer from Shangshui County, said, “We have 100,000 chickens consuming about 11 tons of feed per day, where the cost of feed alone for producing a kilogram of eggs is around 2.6 yuan.”
“In addition to feed, there are various other costs,” he added. “From packaging for egg transportation, dealing with the inevitable mortality in the flock, to healthcare expenses such as vaccines, medications, and disinfection.”
Zhao mentioned that the total expense including feed and operational costs amounted to 3.03 yuan, but “today, buyers are only paying 2.95 yuan.” He emphasized that with each sale, he is incurring losses.
On social media platform Douyin, several individual farmers have shared videos expressing the struggles in animal husbandry. Whether it’s pig farming, chicken farming, cattle breeding, or fish farming, everyone seems to be facing losses, depicting the current state of the entire industry.
To be continued…