Good News on Listing | Frost & Sullivan Assists Muyuan Food Co., Ltd. to Successfully Go Public in Hong Kong (2714.HK)

Muyuan Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 'Muyuan Food') successfully listed on February 6, 2026. The company plans to issue 2.74 billion H shares, of which 90% will be international offerings and 10% will be public offerings. The maximum offering price per share is HK$39.00, raising a net amount of approximately HK$10.46 billion.

During the process of listing in Hong Kong this time, Frost & Sullivan mainly undertook the following tasks: helping the issuer accurately and objectively understand its positioning in the target market, using objective market data to discover, support, and highlight the issuer's competitive advantages, assisting the issuer, investment banks, and other intermediaries in completing the writing of relevant parts of the prospectus (such as overview, competitive advantages and strategy, industry overview, business, and other important chapters), helping the issuer complete communication with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and investors, assisting investors in quickly understanding the market ecosystem and competitive landscape, and assisting the issuer in completing feedback on various industry-related issues from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, etc.

Frost & Sullivan has always been a leader in helping companies go public in Hong Kong. According to LiveReport's big data, from January to December 2025, and over the past 36 months, Frost & Sullivan provided listing industry advisory services for 82 (market share of 73%) and 180 (market share of 71%) Hong Kong-listed IPOs respectively, ranking first in terms of number of engagements, with rich industry experience and communication skills with regulatory authorities, exchanges, investment and financing institutions, and various related organizations.

• Measured by live hog production capacity and output, the company has ranked first in global output for four consecutive years from 2021 to 2024;

   

• Based on the hog slaughter volume, the company exceeded the combined market share of second to fourth-ranked market participants in 2024;

   

• Measured by the number of slaughtered heads, the company's slaughtering and meat business ranked fifth globally and first in China in 2024;

   

• Measured by revenue, the company's compound annual growth rate in revenue from the meat slaughtering business between 2021 and 2024 ranked first among large Chinese peers;

   

• The company possesses proprietary R&D capabilities across the entire industrial chain and is a leading pig breeding enterprise operating across the entire chain;

   

• The company boasts a visionary management team and advanced corporate governance, making it an ESG leader in the green ecological aquaculture industry.

Over the past few decades, driven by population growth, increased income in developing countries, and changes in dietary preferences, global meat consumption has been on the rise. Pork is the most widely consumed meat globally. From 2020 to 2024, the global pork consumption compound annual growth rate was 4.9%, reaching 115.3 million tons in 2024, accounting for 32.9% of global meat consumption.

China's pork consumption has gradually stabilized after experiencing periodic fluctuations. In 2024, China's pork consumption reached 58.2 million tons. It is expected that from 2025 to 2029, China's pork consumption will fluctuate around 59 million tons, entering a relatively stable consumption phase overall. From 2020 to 2024, China's pork exports showed a trend of first increasing and then stabilizing. In 2024, China's total pork exports were 27,700 tons. Overall, China is the world's largest producer and consumer of pork. Due to the huge domestic demand for pork, most products are sold domestically, resulting in relatively small pork exports and a low export dependence.

Pig breeding is the process of producing piglets and raising them into market-ready pigs. The pigs mainly sold in China include breeding pigs, piglets, and market-ready pigs primarily used for pork production. The capacity of China's pig breeding industry has slightly declined, with the number of breeding sows dropping from 41.6 million in 2020 to 40.8 million in 2024. However, pig slaughter volume has recovered significantly after animal diseases, increasing from 527 million in 2020 to 702.6 million in 2024, with an average annual compound growth rate of 7.5%. It is expected that under the combined effects of policy regulation, increasing proportion of large-scale breeding, and technological upgrading, capacity will tend to stabilize in the future, with pig slaughter volume estimated at about 707.3 million in 2029. The slaughter volume of piglets is closely related to market expectations for pig prices. In 2020, due to the impact of animal diseases, demand surged, with the slaughter volume of piglets reaching a peak of 216.1 million, and then gradually returning to normal and fluctuating with price expectations. It is expected that by 2029, the slaughter volume of piglets will drop to 187.4 million, with a compound annual growth rate of -1.9% from 2025 to 2029. This decline mainly stems from the continuous advancement of standardization and integration in the pig breeding industry. With the transformation of industrial structure, the dependence on external piglet procurement is expected to decrease, putting overall piglet demand under downward pressure.

Over the past decade, China's pig farming industry has shifted towards large-scale breeding (referring to breeding enterprises with an annual pig output of over 500 heads): the penetration rate of large-scale pig farming has increased from 43.3% in 2015 to 70.1% in 2024, and is expected to reach 79.4% by 2029. The industry concentration has been continuously increasing, with production processes becoming more standardized and production volumes more predictable, leading companies steadily occupying a larger market share.

As a key downstream link in the pig breeding industry chain, China's live hog slaughtering and processing industry encompasses upstream breeding, midstream slaughtering and processing, and downstream sales. Based on the number of live pigs slaughtered by large-scale pig slaughtering companies in China, from 2021 to 2024, the slaughtering volume increased steadily, rising from 264.9 million heads in 2021 to 337.7 million heads in 2024. In the future, with further penetration by large slaughtering companies, the slaughtering volume is expected to gradually increase from 363.4 million heads in 2025 to 452.7 million heads in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.6% from 2025 to 2029.

According to the sales volume of meat products by China's live pig slaughtering companies, the sales volume of meat products increased from 47.7 million tons in 2020 to 66 million tons in 2024, and is expected to reach 73.7 million tons in 2029. By product segment, cut meat remains the dominant category. Its sales volume increased from 41.5 million tons in 2020 to 58.2 million tons in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.8%, which is higher than the compound annual growth rate of 5.8% for by-products. This is mainly due to the faster growth in consumer demand for cut meat compared to by-products, coupled with technological advancements in live pig breeding on the supply side, which has led to a steady increase in the slaughter ratio over the past five years.

According to a Frost & Sullivan report, the competitive landscape of global live hog farms presents a relatively fragmented structure. Based on sales volume in 2024, the top five participants collectively accounted for 11.8% of the market share. In terms of live hog output, Muyuan Foods ranked first globally, leading the market with a remarkable output of 71.6 million pigs. Additionally, over the past five years, the company's live hog output increased by 53.5 million heads, ranking first globally, and its production capacity also ranked first globally. In terms of slaughter volume in 2024, the company firmly ranked fifth globally and first in China.

●Industry value chain integration and extension

With the national policy issued by the State Council in 2019, 'Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Stabilizing Pig Production and Promoting Transformation and Upgrading', pig slaughterhouses are encouraged to relocate to major pig breeding areas. The trend of leading industry enterprises integrating upstream and downstream businesses is evident. These companies actively expand their operations to include upstream feed production and pig breeding, as well as downstream slaughter services, while gradually establishing a complete industrial chain. This trend not only integrates operations but also improves resource allocation efficiency, cost control capabilities, and product traceability, thereby promoting the industry towards a more coordinated and sustainable development model.

● Standardized and intelligent pig breeding

To address consumers' concerns about food safety, the pig industry has rapidly standardized its production process. Currently, enterprises strictly abide by food safety regulations throughout the entire value chain from feed procurement to slaughter. At the same time, scientific and intelligent pig farming methods, advanced nutrition and veterinary knowledge, as well as IoT and smart technologies improve productivity, enhance animal health, and ensure pork quality, driving the industry further towards more standardized, intelligent, and sustainable development.

● Promote sustainable operations and reduce carbon emissions

Climate change is a common issue faced by human society. Leading enterprises in China's pig breeding industry have always formed business strategies focusing on environmental protection, researching and developing new environmental protection technologies and practices. For example, building pig houses have significant environmental advantages; the widespread application of sterilization and deodorization effectively reduces the spread of pollutants and pathogens, minimizing the environmental impact during the breeding process. In addition, leading enterprises are actively seeking optimized soybean meal feed formulations, adopting innovative methods such as heat-free pig houses and waste recycling systems. It is expected that more pig breeding enterprises will strive to promote the sustainable development of the pig industry and their performance in ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) aspects.

● Stable and robust consumption, along with changing preferences

China is the world's largest pork consumer. With the improvement of living standards and changes in eating habits, the demand for animal protein continues to grow, and pork remains the main source of animal protein for Chinese consumers. The overall pork consumption forecast for the next few years will increase steadily.

● Capital barriers

The large-scale pig farming model, which is increasingly adopted globally, differs significantly from traditional small-scale operations, especially in terms of capital intensity. Large-scale pig farmers usually possess strong financial capabilities to invest in advanced infrastructure such as standardized facilities, automatic feeding systems, and comprehensive environmental protection mechanisms that support ecological farming practices. Therefore, enterprises with sufficient financial strength can expand their pig farming scale.

●Management barriers

The high-quality breeding process of live pigs requires a set of standardized technical procedures and operating guidelines. Small-scale pig farmers in China who lack professional technical personnel often find it difficult to maximize production efficiency and profitability. Therefore, only large-scale pig farms with excellent breeding capabilities, disease prevention and control systems, and cost management capabilities can fully realize the economic potential of the live pig breeding industry. Currently, management capabilities remain the most significant barrier for enterprises entering the Chinese live pig breeding industry.

● Technological barriers

The pig farming industry is globally recognized as a technology-intensive sector. Advanced breeding technologies and tools are crucial for pig farming enterprises to ensure consistency, adaptability, and high productivity in large-scale pig farming. At the same time, they must upgrade their internal systems to standardize breeding processes and manage biosecurity risks. Global leading companies have developed proprietary technologies, processes, and operational expertise that are difficult for new entrants to replicate, thus forming high entry barriers within the industry.

●ESG barriers

China's pig farming industry faces escalating environmental protection barriers due to strict compliance with regulations, including mandatory investment in pollution control infrastructure (such as biogas digesters and real-time emissions monitoring) and restrictions on land use near ecologically sensitive areas. The high compliance costs are placing an excessive burden on smaller participants. Leading companies mitigate these challenges by having stronger financial strength and proprietary technology, maintaining compliant and eco-friendly operations, and consolidating their market dominance through advanced environmental protection solutions that are intensive in R&D and capital-intensive.

● Industry integration

In recent years, China has encouraged industry integration through policies to promote standardization and centralization of the slaughter industry. The 'Regulations on the Administration of Live Pig Slaughter' in 2021 support large-scale, standardized operating enterprises. Under these favorable policies, the proportion of live pig slaughter by large-scale slaughter companies increased from 39.5% in 2021 to 48.1% in 2024. The threshold for environmental, food safety, and quarantine standards has been raised, accelerating the exit of small workshops, increasing market concentration, and benefiting large enterprises. As a result, industry resources are increasingly concentrated among a few leading participants, improving overall efficiency and regulatory progress.

●Sales channel transformation

The sales channels within China's pig slaughtering and processing industry are undergoing a structural transformation. Traditionally, the industry relied on wholesale markets and intermediaries, but it is now shifting towards direct supply to large supermarkets, chain restaurants, and food processing enterprises. These downstream customers place greater emphasis on product standardization, timely delivery, and strict food safety standards. Leading slaughtering enterprises possess integrated production facilities and cold chain logistics systems that can well meet these requirements, thereby reducing dependence on intermediate distribution and helping to comprehensively reshape the industry's sales pattern.

●Product upgrade

As consumers' expectations continue to rise and food safety standards become more stringent, China's pig slaughtering and processing industry is accelerating its shift from strip sales to a more refined supply (such as cut products and packaged meat products). This transformation has led to an upgrade of the product portfolio towards categories with additional value-added features. To provide large and small packaged products that meet the needs of supermarkets, chain restaurants, and food processors, a number of companies are improving supply chain efficiency. At the same time, the 'Healthy China Initiative (2019-2030)' supports the wider adoption of chilled fresh meat, product refinement, and brand building, further driving product upgrades. Policy support and market demand are jointly positioning product upgrades as the core lever of industry competitiveness.