Instead of going up, the price of beef goes down. A cow makes a profit of less than a thousand yuan.

Since the beginning of this year, pork prices have continued to rise, and near the Mid-Autumn Festival, many consumers have begun to turn their attention to beef and mutton, a substitute for pork, but the price of beef and mutton does not seem to rise as a result, and the profits of many farmers are still very low. what on earth is this all about?

The pork went up, but the beef fell.

Pork prices have been high this year, making many consumers feel a bit unaffordable. According to data from the price monitoring center of the Municipal Price Bureau, the average purchase price of live pigs per jin in mid-August exceeded 9 yuan, up 1.83 percent from the last monitoring day, 0.94 percent from the same period last month, and 2.69 percent from the same period last year. The average price of pork also exceeded 15 yuan.

In theory, when the price of pork is high, consumers will choose beef and mutton instead of consumption, and the price of beef and mutton should also rise, but this is not the case. According to a survey conducted by the Municipal Animal Husbandry Bureau, the average price of beef cattle in the city in July was about 11 yuan per jin, down 1 percent from the same period last month, and cattle farmers made a profit of less than 1,000 yuan per head of beef cattle. In other words, the price of beef has not risen as much as pork. The reason why beef prices can not rise is mainly affected by the impact of low-priced beef imports from abroad.

It is understood that at present, there are fewer and fewer retail investors raising cattle in Yantai, mainly because raising cattle is not as good as working to earn more money, and cattle farmers are not enthusiastic. In the past, cattle, as an important tool for farming, once flourished, but with the development of planting mechanization, cattle have lost the function of farming, so it may be difficult to earn money by raising cattle alone. Farmers make a profit of less than one thousand yuan per cow, which is obviously not cost-effective for retail investors who do not raise too many.

There are not many large-scale beef slaughtering and processing enterprises

Although there are fewer and fewer retail cattle farmers, the Yantai beef cattle farming industry is not really as standardized as the pork industry. A few days ago, the reporter came to a food company that integrates breeding and slaughtering beef cattle and learned about the current situation of beef cattle breeding industry.

The person in charge of Yuanhua farm told the reporter that it takes at least one and a half to two years for an ordinary beef cow to be slaughtered on their farm, and the average feed cost per day is about 18 yuan. Even if it is calculated according to the growth period of 700days, the feed cost alone needs 12600 yuan, which does not include labor, hydropower, equipment and plant costs, but according to the current market purchase price. The beef cattle industry doesn't make any money. So large-scale farms like them can hold on for a while, because as citizens recognize their brand beef, it may change the situation.

From the understanding of the situation, there are fewer and fewer people raising cattle in Yantai, and this situation will continue. When the market is not perfect and some low-quality beef disturbs the market price at a low price, the cattle industry is destined to make no money, and naturally no one wants to do it.

(Lu Qifei)