The person in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture said: the general situation of beef and mutton production in China

The increase in beef and mutton consumption is the general trend, the pattern of tight supply will not be fundamentally changed in a short period of time, and prices will not fluctuate greatly.

Recently, beef and mutton prices in Inner Mongolia and other pastoral provinces have declined instead of rising in the peak season, live cattle and sheep prices in some areas have declined to varying degrees, and it is even difficult to sell sheep in some places. In view of this situation, a few days ago, the reporter interviewed Wang Zongli, deputy director of the Animal Husbandry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Q: beef and mutton has been favored by more and more consumers in recent years. What is the overall situation of supply and demand of beef and mutton in China?

A: China is a big country in the production and consumption of cattle and sheep. The output of mutton ranks first in the world, and the output of beef ranks third after Brazil and the United States. In recent years, the production of cattle and sheep in China has increased steadily. In 2013, 48.282 million cattle and 280 million sheep were fenced, an increase of 26.8% and 34.7% respectively over 2000, with an average annual increase of 1.8% and 2.3%. The output of beef and mutton was 6.732 million tons and 4.081 million tons respectively, an increase of 31.2% and 54.5% respectively, with an average annual growth rate of 2.1% and 3.4%. In recent years, beef and mutton has been maintained at about 13% of the meat consumption structure, with beef and mutton accounting for 7.9% and 4.8% of the total meat production in 2013, respectively.

Compared with the development of production, consumption grows faster. The amount of beef and mutton purchased by urban and rural households across the country in 2013 was 3.961 million tons, an average annual increase of 3.9 percent compared with 2.404 million tons in 2000. If you add in the outdoor catering consumption of urban and rural residents, the total consumption is even larger and the growth rate is even faster. The shortage of supply leads to a continuous rise in prices. Since 2001, the price of beef and mutton has risen for 13 consecutive years. Among them, there was a strong upward momentum from 2007 to 2013, with beef prices rising from 18.54 yuan per kilogram to 58.81 yuan, with an average annual increase of 17.9 percent, while mutton prices rose from 18.63 yuan to 61.88 yuan, with an average annual increase of 18.7 percent.

On the whole, the supply of beef and mutton is in a tight balance, and developing production and increasing supply is the primary task for the development of beef and mutton industry at present and in the future.

Q: what is the current situation of beef and mutton production and marketing in China?

A: the overall situation of cattle and sheep production this year is improving, and sheep are developing relatively faster. According to the fixed-point monitoring of the Ministry of Agriculture, in September this year, the stock of beef cattle in 300 cattle villages decreased by 1.6% compared with the same period last year, but increased by 0.6% compared with the beginning of the year; the stock of fertile cows increased by 1.2% month-on-month, an increase of 1.0% over the same period last year, reversing the trend of continuous decline since 2009. The stock of mutton sheep in 500 sheep-raising villages increased by 2.4% compared with the same period last year, and the stock of fertile ewes increased by 3.1% over the average of the past three years, and the development of mutton sheep was significantly faster than that of beef cattle.

Since the beginning of this year, the price of beef and mutton has not continued the upward trend in previous years, and the price increase has obviously narrowed compared with the same period last year. The average price of beef and mutton in the first three quarters increased by only 7.5% and 6% year-on-year. According to the Ministry of Agriculture's monitoring of 480 farmers' markets, in the fourth week of October, the national average price of beef and mutton was 63.6 yuan and 64.85 yuan per kilogram, up 4.3% and 1.6% respectively from the same period last year, but down 1.27 yuan and 3.15 yuan respectively from the highest price at the beginning of the year. This has not happened in recent years. This situation is due to the increase in production on the one hand and weak consumption on the other. According to the monitoring of 17 large wholesale markets, including Xinfadi, beef trading volume in the first 10 months fell 11.7 percent compared with the same period last year, and mutton trading volume dropped 19.2 percent.

Q: recently, the prices of live cattle and sheep in Inner Mongolia and other places have dropped, and the problem of "difficulty in selling sheep" has emerged in some areas. What are the main reasons for the price drop?

A: recently, cattle and sheep prices in pastoral provinces have dropped to varying degrees. According to monitoring, in the fourth week of October, the price of mutton in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and other pastoral areas was 57.34 yuan per kilogram, down 6 percent from the same period last year; and mutton prices in agricultural areas were 65.68 yuan per kilogram, up 2.2 percent from the same period last year. Among them, the price of mutton in pastoral provinces has declined for 10 consecutive weeks, falling below the level of the same period last year for seven consecutive weeks, which is not common in the peak consumption season in previous years.

The decline of mutton price in pastoral areas is the result of the superposition of multiple factors. First, in recent years, the benefit of mutton sheep is good, the development of large-scale breeding has been accelerated, and the supply of mutton market has increased. However, affected by the slowdown in macroeconomic growth, mutton market consumption has declined since last winter. Second, after the outbreak of small ruminant epidemic in spring, the transfer of live sheep across provinces and within the province was suspended, and the live sheep trading market was closed. After the transportation of live sheep was released, the cattle and sheep who pressed the fence in the early stage were concentrated out of the fence, and some farmers even had panic selling. Third, since the beginning of this year, the precipitation in Inner Mongolia has dropped by 18% compared with the same period last year, the output of grassland has been reduced seriously, and the amount of grass stored by herdsmen is on the low side. In order to reduce the pressure of forage storage for the winter, farmers and herdsmen choose to speed up the listing of mutton sheep. Fourth, the increase in imports also has a certain impact on the domestic beef and mutton market.

Q: what measures will the Ministry of Agriculture take to promote beef and mutton production in the future?

A: although the rising momentum of beef and mutton prices has slowed down since the beginning of this year, and the prices of mutton and live sheep in some areas have declined periodically, with the accelerated process of industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization, the living standards of residents have continued to improve, the dietary structure has been accelerated, and beef and mutton consumption has increased. The pattern of tight supply will not be fundamentally changed in a short period of time, and prices will not fluctuate greatly.

In the next step, the Ministry of Agriculture will closely focus on the goal of increasing production and ensuring supply, conscientiously implement the national plan for the development of beef and mutton production, adhere to the principle of realizing basic self-sufficiency at home, give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources, and increase policy support and guidance. Highlight superior production areas, speed up the transformation of production methods, improve and improve the breeding system of improved varieties, strengthen the development and utilization of forage resources, and strengthen financial and insurance support. Continuously improve the comprehensive production capacity of beef and mutton and effectively ensure the effective supply of the market.

Focus on doing a good job in five areas:

First, strengthen policy support and guidance. Centering on the key links such as breed breeding and improvement, standardized scale breeding and forage development and utilization, we will gradually improve the policy framework system to support the development of beef and mutton industry, and constantly increase support, so as to provide a strong policy guarantee for enhancing the comprehensive production capacity of beef and mutton.

Second, speed up the promotion of industrial transformation and upgrading. Adhere to the combination of agriculture and animal husbandry, take measures in line with local conditions, and vigorously develop moderate-scale breeding of beef, beef and sheep. Continue to organize and carry out standardization demonstration activities to improve the overall level of standardization. We will support the development of new business entities such as large-scale farms, family farms and professional cooperatives, and improve the level of facilities, organization and intensification of beef and mutton production.

Third, strengthen the breeding and promotion of improved varieties. Adhere to the combination of policy support and scientific and technological promotion, and promote the expansion and increment of basic female livestock through multiple channels. Starting with the implementation of the genetic improvement program, we will steadily promote breeding work such as performance testing, improve the ability of independent breeding, and cultivate a number of new breeds of beef cattle and mutton sheep. We will strengthen the construction of cattle and sheep breeding farms and bull breeding stations, organize and implement the subsidy policy for improved breeds, speed up the genetic improvement of local breeds, and promote the quality and efficiency of cattle and sheep production.

Fourth, focus on increasing the supply of forage. Actively develop the cultivation of cattle and sheep forage, carry out artificial recommendation according to local conditions, and enhance the guarantee of high-quality forage supply. Strengthen the construction of silage and yellow silage facilities to improve the utilization efficiency of crop straw. We will strengthen the construction of forage reserves and supporting facilities for disaster prevention and reduction in pastoral areas to alleviate the problem of insufficient forage supply in winter snowstorms.

Fifth, establish and improve the financial and insurance support system. Make full use of the market mechanism, attract the extensive entry of social capital, establish a diversified investment and financing mechanism, and stimulate the endogenous vitality of the main body of the cattle and sheep industry market. We will carry out pilot projects of loan guarantee and interest discount for beef and mutton production, and actively explore an effective model for finance to support the cattle and sheep industry. We will actively promote the establishment of an insurance system for beef and sheep to improve the ability of cattle and sheep production to resist risks.