China is a big producer and consumer of pork in the world. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of live pigs at the end of 2005 was 503.348 million, accounting for 565.438+0% of the world. In 2005, 660.986 million live pigs were slaughtered. The number of live pigs in stock and slaughter ranks first in the world. In 2005, the pork output was 50106,000 tons, accounting for 64.7% of the total meat output in China and 48.74% of the total meat output in the world (according to FAO data). In 2005, the per capita pork consumption was 38.32kg, exceeding the world average.

However, the level of pig production in China is still relatively backward. In 2005, the average pig slaughter rate in China was about 132.3%, slightly lower than the world average 134.4%(2004), but far lower than Denmark (173.8%) and France (172.4%). There are great differences among regions. For example, the slaughter rate of live pigs in Guangdong in 2003 was close to 160%.

Figure 1 Rapid growth of pigs, cattle, mutton and poultry Note: Data for 2003-2004 were compiled by FAO. In terms of feeding methods, traditional extensive feeding, household sideline feeding, specialized household feeding and large-scale feeding coexist, and the situation of low slaughter rate, low meat production, low production efficiency and high production cost has not fundamentally changed. Modern scientific pig-raising technology has been widely promoted in large-scale and specialized pig farms, but it still needs to be strengthened in the vast rural areas.