China Reports a Record High of Pork Imports in April, Soaring 170%

China’s pork imports in April skyrockets 170% YoY to a record high of 400,000 tonnes, according to data, as the world’s top consumer took advantage of low prices to stock up.

For the first four months, China has imported about 1.35 million tonnes of pork, jumping 170.4% compared to a year earlier.

China was hit by African swine fever disease, reducing China’s pig herd by at least 40% as well as meat output and provoked prices to record high.

Even pork prices steadily plunged since early February, but still doubled from a year ago, and tripled the amount of U.S. pork price in March. However, Chinese pork prices continues to fell due to a lower domestic demand.

While U.S. pork exports to China reported a record for the period from January to March, according to data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. In the first quarter China bought $5.05 billion of farm goods from United States, up 110% from last year.