10-fold rise in online sales of pork for a Songjiang company

The pork industry in Songjiang District is working hard to negate the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak with at least one local company reporting a 10-fold increase in online sales compared with the same period last year.

“We are selling some 25,000 to 30,000 packages of pork meat daily online, compared with about 3,000 packages in the same period the previous year,” said Tang Xiaodong, chief of the online sales department of Songlin Food Group.

To ensure supplies, the company called on all its local employees, who make up 90 percent of the workforce, to resume work from the second day of the Lunar New Year.

“Our online orders keep increasing since the third day of the Lunar New Year,” said Tang, who realized that e-business channels would need to be extended as people were being encouraged to stay home.

The company is working with online platforms including Ding Dong, Qing Mei, FreshFresh and Hema Fresh.

Offline sales are also up.

“The sales volume of our store has increased three times year on year. On the Lantern Festival on February 8, our sales amounted to 100,000 yuan (US$14,305),” said He Hongjuan, sales manager of a Songlin outlet on Songjiang’s Jiangxue Road.

“Songlin is strictly carrying out epidemic prevention while conducting quality production,” said Wang Longqin, the company’s general manager. Epidemic prevention measures the company had enforced include monitoring employees’ health, closed breeding and vehicle disinfection.

Though agriculture accounts for less than one percent of Shanghai’s overall GDP, it is still significant for the livelihood of its residents.

“It is estimated the number of slaughtered pigs in Songjiang in the first quarter of 2020 will reach 40,000, compared with 36,800 the previous year. The pork production and supply capability meets last year’s numbers. Citizens will have a stable pork supply,” said Zhang Chanjuan, deputy chief of the husbandry and fishery office of Songjiang Agriculture and Rural Committee.

Shanghai Xinnong Feed Co, a leading feed production company in the district, said 65 percent of its productivity had resumed by late February.