China pork imports up, overall livestock imports down

The Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture of China (MOA) released the data of agricultural imports and exports in early November. According to the data, total imports of livestock products in the first nine months of 2015 stood at US$15.40 billion, down 12.1 percent year-on-year.
Livestock exports totaled US$4.35 billion, down 14.8 percent from the same period of 2014. The trade deficit decreased by 10.9 percent at US$11.05 billion.
Pork imports in September were 74,000 tons and the total pork imports of the first three quarters summed to 518,000 tons, up 22.4 percent year-on-year. The imported pig offal products in September reached 77,000 tons while the total imports of these products in the first nine months were 596,000 tons, decreasing 2.5 percent when compared to the previous year.
As for the beef imports, the number in September totaled 50,000 tons and the overall imports in the first nine months summed to 321,000 tons, an increase of 34.4 percent compared with the same period last year. The total amount of mutton imported in September stayed at 16,000 tons and the mutton imports in the first three quarters added up to 178,000 tons, decreasing 21.9 percent year-on-year.