In the first quarter, China imported 390,000 tons of pork, a year-on-year growth of 77%. Though America, Canada and Brazil are also expanding their pork export, Europe gains the upper hand due to the weakening of the euro.
The demand of China helps Europe get rid of excessive pork. There are two reasons for the excess: the increase of livestock inventories in Europe, especially in German and Spain, and the sudden shutdown of Russian market because of sanitary embargo regulations.
China's import drives the pork price upward in Spain, German and France, in which competition pressure is therefore reduced. The recovery of pork price in France can be attributed to the import of China, in this way, most pig farmers in France manage to cover their costs by selling pork at 1.3 euro per kilo.
