Once Again China’s Pig Farmers Are Mired in Boom-Bust Cycle

(Bloomberg) — Once every three to four years, hog farmers in the world’s largest producing country find themselves trapped in an unforgiving market that pushes some over-leveraged breeders to the brink of a debt crisis.

Jiangxi Zhengbang Technology Co., the second-largest hog supplier among Chinese listed companies in 2020, just reported 542 million yuan ($81 million) of overdue commercial bills, becoming the latest producer to show the financial stress of the boom-bust cycle. The nonpayment comes after it lost about three billion dollars since the start of last year as local hog prices halved.