China's leading hog producer Muyuan Foods expected surging profits in the first three quarters amid high demand for pork, a staple meat in the country.
The company's net profits attributable to shareholders in the first nine months are expected to reach 20.7 billion yuan (about 3.05 billion U.S. dollars) to 21.2 billion yuan, more than 14 times that in the same period last year, the firm said in a statement filed with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
The surge in profits was due to a rise in both hog prices and the number of hogs sold, according to the statement.
The company sold 11.88 million pigs during the nine-month period, up 49.8 percent year on year.
The numbers are preliminary results and are still subject to auditing, the statement said.
Since last year, China has implemented a string of policies to stimulate hog production and stabilize pork prices affected by African swine fever and other factors.
Pork prices declined by 1 percent during the eight-day Golden Week holiday ending Oct. 8 compared with a week earlier, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.