BEIJING — China released 16,000 metric tons of pork from its central reserves on Dec 17 to increase supply for the upcoming New Year and Spring Festival holidays, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The ministry said that more frozen pork reserves would be released onto the market in due course.

Pork prices have been declining in China due to the country taking measures to boost supply since the start of 2020, including releasing frozen pork reserves and increasing imports.

Official data shows that pork prices plunged 12.5 percent year-on-year in November, exceeding the October decline by 9.7 percentage points.