Pig farmers in a poke

China . . .

A lawmaker urged the central government yesterday to look into what he called an “unprecedented crunch” facing the nation’s pig farmers whose livelihoods have been seriously affected by rising feed prices and steep drops in pork prices.

Speaking at a news conference, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) asked the government to reduce pork imports to help stabilize pork prices in Taiwan.

During the first five months of this year before President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) came to power, pork imports were maintained at a level between 1,000 tonnes and 1,200 tonnes per month, he said.

But after Ma assumed office on May 20, pork imports surged to 2,700 tonnes in June, 4,000 tonnes in July and 4,900 tonnes last month — causing pork prices in the domestic market to plummet rapidly despite the fact that almost all other product prices were still rising, he said.

Pork prices had reached NT$7,729 (US$240) per 100kg in early June before plunging to the current level of between NT$6,200 and NT$6,400, Pan said.

Worse still, he added, feed prices continued to surge.

The price of soy powder rose to NT$17 per kilogram from NT$15 last month, and the price of feed corn rose to NT$11 per kilogram from NT$9.8 the previous month — meaning that pig farmers would lose NT$400 for each pig they sold.

“The operating difficulties have driven them into a tight corner,” Pan said.

Source: Taipei Times

 

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