猪在天上飞 谁在地上“吹”

进入6月以来，生猪价格和冷鲜肉价格达到历史高位，价格一路飙升的猪肉再次引发人们的关注。2011年8月份，全国居民消费价格总水平同比上涨6.2%。其中，食品类价格同比上涨13.4%，猪肉价格上涨45.5%，不可小觑。人们不禁质疑：为什么猪肉还在涨价？

Pork has been an important element in China's food culture. There are almost half a billion pigs in China, one for every three people. But since last year, the price of pork has seen an abnormal surge.

Customers complain they're feeling the pinch.

"The price has risen too much, but pork is for sure a necessity in our daily diet. We cannot do without it. So now we consume less pork, and more chicken and duck as the alternatives."

"Last year, the least popular parts of pig cost only 7 yuan, but now the price is around 14."

The demand for pork has tripled amongst rural residents and doubled amongst urban dwellers over the last 20 years.

In China, most pigs are raised by small scale pig farms. These small scale farms do not have the capability or capacity to process their product from start to finish.

From these farms to supermarkets, pigs have to go through breeders, slaughterhouses and processors. Analysts believe the fragmentation has crippled the supply chain.

Li Guoqiang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, says the old system has to change.

"Large scale farming is necessary, because the cost for small farms is too high. The information flow through the Internet can help to decrease the cost, but it is not sufficient. Other supporting measures like logistics are also needed."

While many countries have strategic oil and grain reserves, China also possesses a national pork reserve.

The Ministry of Commerce initiated a live hog reserve that began operating in 2007.

Authorities have said it planned to release part of the central government's 200,000-metric-tons of frozen pork into the market in an attempt to cap rising prices.

For CRI, I'm Zeng Liang.