The government announced Monday it will intervene to stop pork prices plunging excessively and shield pig farmers from market volatility.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner and price regulator, said it has started purchasing frozen pork from the market to increase national pork reserves as prices have kept falling over the past months.

Farmers increased their hog numbers last year when pork prices were high, increasing supplies this year but pushing prices down since Chinese Lunar New Year.

Zhou Wangjun, deputy head of the Price Department with the NDRC, said the hog-to-corn price ratio, a major indicator of the sector's profitability, has fallen below 6 for the last four weeks due to cyclical fluctuations.

A reading above 6 is considered the break-even point for pig farmers thus the current ratio suggests they are generally making a loss.

Zhou said the NDRC move will boost the government's pork reserves to regulate the market and "strike a balance" for farmers, retailers and consumers.

The NDRC official advised pig farmers to adjust their farming plans according to price changes to stabilize pig production.

However, farmers reducing their hog numbers drastically could push inflation up next year, as pork prices make up a large part of food prices, which account for about one-third of the weighting in the calculation of consumer price index (CPI).

China's CPI growth eased to 3.4 percent in April, retreating from 3.6 percent in March.

Inflation remains a major concern for the Chinese government in recent years and the volatile swine market has complicated the government's price control efforts.

As pork is the most widely consumed meat in China, pork prices were the main driver of last year's sky-high CPI figure of 5.4 percent, well above the government's control target of 4 percent.

沪江英语快讯:年后,市场上生猪肉价格持续走低,肉价的回落有利于物价保持稳定,CPI可继续控制在较低水平。现在国家因生猪价格低迷,已经启动收购冻猪肉,这在维护生猪养殖户利益的同时,客观上也必然抬高猪肉价格。猪肉是国民食用的主要肉类,肉价涨还是跌,可是攸关民生问题呢!

沪江小编科普时间到:

生猪价格和CPI的关系:当前我国的CPI是由8类商品构成:分别为食品、烟酒及用品、衣着、家庭设备用品及维修服务费、医疗保健及个人用品、交通和通信、娱乐教育文化用品及服务、居住,各大类价格指数的权重分别约为:食品33%,日用品5%,衣着9%,家庭设备及维修4%,医疗保健11%,交通通信9%,娱乐教育文化15%,居住14%。CPI主要统计了八类商品的价格变动,其中食品在CPI中的权重为33.2%。而在食品大类中,肉禽产品约占食品消费的20%,而猪肉约占食品消费的10%左右。所以,生猪价格的上涨和下降对于CPI的影响很大,而CPI是衡量民生的重要指标,所以从生猪价格上可以间接看出民生状况。