Many Chinese tycoons have their assets plunged in 2019 due to a slowdown and U.S.-China trade war, according to a recent Hurun report.
However, food billionaires have had a good business year thanks to the sharp rise in food prices.
The couple Qin Yinglin, 54, and Qian Ying, 53 – owner of Muyuan Foodstuff, rose to 15th place on the list of the richest thanks to “Pork crisis“.
Shares of China's second largest pork producer have tripled in a year, helping the assets of Qin Yinglin and his wife increase to 100 billion yuan (nearly $ 14 billion). Last year, they ranked 70th with total assets of 35.5 billion yuan.
Qin Yinglin, born in 1964, was originally from Henan Province, China. Graduated from Henan Agricultural University in 1989 and joined a food manufacturing company in Nanyang area, but after only three years, Qin decided to quit his job to return to his hometown to start a business.
Starting with 22 pigs, after two years, the size of Qin herd increased to 2,000 pigs and exceeded 10,000 in 1997. Up to now, Muyuan Foodstuff has become the second largest pork producer in China.
2018 is considered a great opportunity for Muyuan when the most populous country in the world faces the most serious pork crisis ever. African Swine Fever It is estimated that the country lost 100 million last year.
This has led to a sharp drop in the supply of pork, while the price of this commodity in China has risen to a record high.
According to analysts, the most affected by the crisis are small farmers, while big companies like Muyuan have enough resources to control the disease.
As a result, the rising price of pork helps big companies achieve extraordinary profits. Muyuan Foodstuff's share price on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has tripled in a recent year, to 82.3 yuan.
Officials in the country recently continued to warn that the supply of pork would still face great pressure until the first half of next year.
It is estimated that China needs an additional 10 million tons of meat, which is likely to depend on domestic supply when this figure is larger than the global pork trade.
