The China Pork Playbook

Go big or go home: the mantra of China’s top pig producer.

Muyuan Foods is 

building

 the largest single site hog farm in the world. After African Swine Fever demolished China’s pig population and sent pork prices to double their previous record, Muyuan is banking on getting a slice of that profit pie.

And they’re in a position to win.

 While corporate pork companies felt the sting of ASF, they quickly recouped losses as prices spiked. Their counterparts - the small, family-owned herd - didn’t have that same outcome.

But innovation is the name of the game in order for Muyuan to make the 

moolah

. The new farm is highly automated to increase efficiency. State-of-the-art thermal imaging cameras and air filtration systems are being installed to keep disease out.

The mega farm, by the numbers:

→ 

21 buildings across the campus→ 

84,000 sows, 10x a typical U.S. breeding farm→ 

2.1 million pigs produced a year

China’s goal:

 Reduce dependence on the global pork market. U.S. producers know this story all too well. Thanks in part to China plus others, U.S. pork exports account for 29.2% of production and 

were

 up 15% to $6.33 billion through the first ten months of the year.

How this ends:

It will be no small feat for Muyuan and others to keep ASF out of these high-density production sites. With no vaccine or cure available for the deadly disease, China pork producers are truly betting the farm on this pork herd rebuild.