By Sun Zhe

Fang Siming sold 20 pigs to a meat plant two days ago. Though each pig sold for a loss of about 130 yuan ($19.04), he could not wait any longer.

"I need to sell some for money to buy feed for the other pigs," said 55-year-old Fang, who has been keeping pigs for more than 10 years. Fang still has about 130 pigs on his farm in Yueyang, central China's Hunan Province.

The pork price decline seen since late December is hurting pig farmers like Fang. The price meat plants offer to farmers for live pigs has been fluctuating around 9.2 yuan ($1.35) per kilogram for weeks in Yueyang. Last year the price peaked at 12 yuan ($1.76).

The average live pig price dropped about 21 percent from the beginning of the year during the period from April 5-11, a decrease of 8 percent from the same period in 2009, according to the MOFCOM.

Pig farmers like Fang can profit only when the live pig price is above 10 yuan ($1.46) per kilogram.

"The pig will grow slower when its weight reaches 110 kilograms, and it will mostly grow fat after that mark, which means I will lose more money if I keep them in the breeding stock, as excessively fat pigs are not welcomed in the market, given that the pig feed price is rising," Fang said.

Foot-and-mouth disease and low market demand are mostly to blame for the low price, according to Guo Huiyong, an analyst with Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant.

Farmers are driven to get rid of their pigs quickly if any foot-and-mouth disease case is reported nearby, for fear that it may soon reach their farms. This pushes up the supply of pigs, Guo said.

Pork consumption is usually low from March to September, Guo noted. However, he believes the pork price will bounce back soon as it has already reached the bottom, and the government's frozen pork reserve program launched in early April will help prices rise.

As for Fang, he is still willing to bring in some piglets, and he is confident that the pork price will rise in the second half of the year.

• beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中词汇)
• decrease [di´kri:s, ´di:kri:s] v.&n.减少；减退 (初中词汇)
• mostly [´məustli] ad.主要地；多半；通常 (初中词汇)
• driven [´driv(ə)n] drive 的过去分词 (初中词汇)
• frozen [´frəuzn] freeze 的过去分词 (初中词汇)
• program [´prəugræm] n.说明v.为...安排节目 (初中词汇)
• willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中词汇)
• orient [´ɔ:riənt] n.东方 a.东方的 (高中词汇)
• consumption [kən´sʌmpʃən] n.消耗；结核病 (高中词汇)
• bounce [bauns] v.&n.(使)反弹；拍 (高中词汇)
• confident [´kɔnfidənt] a.有信心的，自信的 (高中词汇)
• breeding [´bri:diŋ] n.饲养，教养 (四级词汇)