The slaughter volume of the domestic major scale slaughterhouses kept low

Affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, China’s major scale slaughterhouses saw a great decline in the number of hogs slaughtered after Feb. 2020. In May, the number of hogs slaughtered by major slaughterhouses stood at about 100,000 heads per day, the lowest level in the last one year.
Specific changes (see figure 2-1)
(1) Before October, 2019: Domestic hog stock dropped greatly due to the outbreak of ASF, leading to a continuous decrease in the number of hogs slaughtered by slaughterhouses. In October, 2019, the number of hogs slaughtered by major slaughterhouses fell to about 100,000 heads per day, the lowest level in 2019.
(2) From Nov. 2019 to Jan. 2020: As pig production capacity recovered gradually, the slaughter volume of the domestic major scale slaughterhouses started to pick up. According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the stock of hogs dropped to the bottom of about 180 million heads in Oct. 2019, started to rise slightly in Nov. 2019, and roughly increased to 200 million heads in Jan. 2020.
(3) After Jan. 2020: Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Feb. 2020, domestic major slaughterhouses saw a sharp decline in the number of hogs slaughtered, with daily slaughter quantity falling to about 30,000 heads from 250,000 million heads. At present, COVID-19 epidemic has been contained basically, but the daily slaughter quantity of slaughterhouses remained low. In May, the slaughter volume recovered to about 90,000 heads, which is still lower than that before the outbreak of COVID-19.
It’s expected that the number of hogs slaughtered by major scale slaughterhouses will increase obviously with the recovery of catering and pig production capacity.