In the AASV e-Letter article entitled McOrist and Done Report on Recent Visit to China, which appeared in the November 29th edition, the weight conversions from kilograms to pounds were incorrect. I should have divided the values by 2.2 rather than multiplying. I apologize to the authors and my previous math instructors (who probably aren’t all that surprised). However, it was interesting to see just how many of you actually read the article and took the time to notify me of my error. I appreciate the feedback! Your comments, corrections, gripes, complaints, rants, and words of praise are always welcome at comments@aasv.org.
Below is the corrected paragraph as it should have read:
Relatively high feed input prices are currently countered by good farm-gate prices. Current average cost of production (COP) in these commercial units is around US$ 0.95 per kg (US $0.43/lb) of liveweight pig, with 75% or more of that being feed costs. Current farm-gate prices in a major city like Guangzhou (Canton) are up to US$ 1.50 per kg (US $0.68/lb). Retail prices in a Guangzhou or other city supermarket are around US$ 2.50 per kg (US $1.14/lb) – China has low slaughter and distribution costs. However, because China has a very large number of farms and no imports, the inelastic demand has created several supply-led booms and busts. There is still a lack of data about the percentage of the overall market now taken up by "western" or pink pig pork and the amount retained by the 40 or so popular native pig meat breeds, such as Jinhua or Xiang breeds.