In an effort to offset a pork shortage problem, farmers in southern China are breeding supersized pigs that tip the scales at more than four times the weight of averages Chinese pig.
Though most pigs bred in China clock in around 275 pounds, farmers in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi province, have managed to raise a pig weighing 1,102 pounds, according to Bloomberg. At slaughter, a pig that size could sell for more than $1,399.
Elsewhere in the country, which is home to the biggest consumers of pork in the world, farmers are breeding supersized pigs which weigh anywhere from 385 to 440 pounds.
And it isn’t just farmers who have embraced the “bigger is better” trend.
Major pork producers in China including the country’s top pig breeder Wens Foodstuffs Group Co. are attempting to increase the average weight of their pigs by at least 14 percent.
This shift towards porkier pigs comes as swine prices have soared to record levels thanks to a bout with African swine fever decimating the nation’s hog herd by as much as half according to some estimates.
Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua warned his country may face a pork shortage of 10 million tons this year, a deficit it will not be able to corrent by engaging in global trade.
With the pork supply problem projected to be “extremely severe” through to the first half of 2020, these big pigs could have a big impact on the situation.
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