China’s livestock sector delivers record meat output amid targeted policy interventions

One hundred million tonnes of meat means animal‑sourced protein is no longer a luxury reserved for festive occasions for China’s population of more than 1.4 billion people, but a commonplace feature of everyday meals. In 2025, the combined output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry meat surpassed 100 million tonnes for the first time. Per‑capita meat availability crossed 70 kilograms. National output of meat and eggs retains top‑ranked status globally, while milk production stands fourth across the world.

China’s large‑scale livestock industry shapes household diets and sustains the livelihoods of millions of breeding households. Authorities under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs address long‑standing industry pain‑points and respond to public requirements. Targeted measures cover hog‑production regulation, relief for beef‑cattle and dairy‑cattle operations, feed‑saving initiatives and major animal‑disease prevention. Policy balances immediate relief with long‑term industrial development, alongside public‑supply security and operational efficiency, delivering stable progress across livestock production and safeguarding domestic supplies of meat and dairy produce.

Cyclical hog‑market management forms a core strand of policy work. Hog prices affect both farm incomes and household food budgets, as steep price surges hurt consumers and sharp downturns harm producers. Back in 2021, relevant departments rolled out hog‑production capacity regulation, centring on the inventory of breeding sows. A three‑tier regulatory approach has been established: adjusting sow numbers over the long term, managing piglet supplies in the medium term and controlling finishing‑pig volumes in the short term.

As production efficiency improves while pork consumption stops growing, regulatory frameworks receive regular revisions. Updated implementation guidelines set reasonable national benchmarks for breeding‑sow stocks and expand available policy instruments to align supply with demand. The domestic hog sector recorded 17 consecutive months of profitable operations from May 2024 to September 2025. Extreme roller‑coaster price swings have been mitigated, with market volatility becoming more moderate.

Many breeders tend to retain larger herds in expectation of future price rises, which contributes to supply‑demand imbalances and periods of low market prices. Counter‑cyclical adjustments commenced in September 2024, even during profitable market phases. Measures include enhanced monitoring and early‑warning systems, provincial‑level allocation of regulatory tasks and operational guidance for major producers. Breeding‑sow numbers have kept declining since July last year. By the end of Q2 2026, sow inventories fell to 37.8 million head, returning to the green, reasonable zone defined under capacity regulation and creating conditions for more balanced hog‑market pricing.

Beef‑cattle and dairy‑cattle operations faced compound pressures through 2024, driven by high import volumes, rising domestic output and subdued consumption, which pushed many farms into sustained losses. Multiple inter‑departmental meetings were convened, and joint official guidance documents were released to stabilise production. Practical support followed swiftly. Projects designed to expand quality breeding‑cow populations rolled out, while authorities co‑operated with financial institutions to boost credit access. A whitelist mechanism for dairy farms was put in place, and matchmaking events linked cattle‑raising operators with lending bodies. Provincial fiscal funds totalling roughly 7 billion yuan were deployed to ease capital shortages for breeding households.

Additional long‑term measures support structural improvement across the beef‑cattle and dairy sectors. Policy backing promotes integrated dairy‑farming‑and‑processing models and deep‑processing of dairy goods, so that more processing‑sector value accrues at farm level. Grain‑for‑forage schemes are expanded and efficient mixed‑feed technologies popularised to cut forage costs. Ten sets of beef‑quality grading standards are under development, alongside national standards for sterilised milk, strengthening consumer confidence. Beef‑cattle farming has maintained profitable conditions since April 2025. Raw‑milk prices have stabilised and trended upwards from June 2026, bringing farm cash costs close to break‑even thresholds.

Feed‑grain supply‑demand tensions grow more pronounced as China’s total output of meat, eggs and milk reached 179 million tonnes in 2025, with more than half of national grain consumption directed towards animal feed. Departments advance feed‑saving initiatives within livestock production. A soybean‑meal reduction programme began in 2018, followed by formal guidance on livestock‑sector grain‑saving in 2024. Integrated technical pathways focus on efficiency gains, new feed‑resource development and structural optimisation to lower soybean‑meal dependency and lift farm‑level efficiency.

Precision feeding replaces extensive feeding regimes across farms. Optimised feed formulas and amino‑acid supplementation reduce overall protein requirements. Smart feeding hardware is promoted, enabling small‑and‑medium‑scale holdings to adopt precision‑nutrition regimes. New evaluations of 179 locally‑available feed ingredients build up national nutritional‑parameter databases. Domestic feed‑formulation software gains wider adoption to diversify feed‑material mixes. Pilot schemes explore food‑waste recycling for animal feed, while bio‑manufactured protein products such as ethanol‑bacterium protein are commercialised and eligible for preferential tax arrangements. Production capacity for new‑protein feed products hit 200 000 tonnes in 2025.

Joint official documents released with other central authorities advance high‑quality forage‑industry development. Grain‑for‑forage projects and high‑quality alfalfa initiatives boost sown forage output, keeping total forage supply above 100 million tonnes. Quality forage accounts for 43 per cent of roughage used within cattle‑and‑sheep farming, delivering tangible outcomes from grain‑replacement strategies. Independent calculations show China’s livestock sector consumed 510 million tonnes of feed in 2025, with soybean‑meal share dropping to 13.6 per cent, down 4.3 percentage points compared with 2017. Without grain‑saving interventions, an extra 20.9 million tonnes of soybean‑meal would be required, equivalent to 26.8 million tonnes of soybeans or the output of 200 million mu of cultivated land.

Robust animal‑disease prevention underpins secure livestock development. Successful African‑swine‑fever control has lifted sow‑reproductive efficiency and supported broad access to pork supplies. Mandatory immunisation policies create immune barriers for poultry production, sustaining stable domestic egg supplies amid global outbreaks of highly‑pathogenic avian influenza.

In late March this year, South African Territories‑1 foot‑and‑mouth disease, previously unseen in China, was introduced into Xinjiang and Gansu. The pathogen carries high transmissibility, with mortality rates among young animals reaching 50 per cent. Existing domestic vaccines offer no cross‑protection against this strain. The disease emerged at a large‑scale livestock‑trading market in Xinjiang, handling over 1.2 million head of cattle and sheep annually and conducting inter‑provincial trade across multiple regions. A separate outbreak occurred on a Gansu‑based farm, with 16 000 cattle kept in surrounding areas.

Livestock‑veterinary authorities directed rapid implementation of quarantine, culling, disinfection and safe disposal procedures. Livestock‑trading markets were closed, and movement of susceptible animals from risk zones was prohibited. Disease foci in Xinjiang were eliminated within 36 hours following confirmation. Multi‑round comprehensive disinfection took place across affected zones in Gansu. Nation‑wide screening was launched across farms, slaughterhouses and trading venues. Twenty‑seven virus‑contamination risk points spread over ten provincial‑level jurisdictions were identified and handled appropriately, breaking potential transmission chains.

Facing the lack of existing protective vaccines, research teams accelerated development of new inactivated and subunit vaccines, achieving mass production and field deployment to build national immune barriers for susceptible livestock. Work continues on research and stockpiling of bivalent swine vaccines, trivalent cattle‑and‑sheep vaccines and South African Territories‑2 vaccine candidates. Guidance is issued for farms to upgrade biosecurity management standards. Disease‑prevention systems remain ready for sustained risk responses.