Kingsino cut its breeding sow herd by almost 25% in Q1 2026 as part of a “raise fewer, raise better” strategy to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The company is also shifting towards a lighter-asset contract farming model, while feed processing remains its main revenue driver.
Chinese feed producer and pig farming company Kingsino has reduced its breeding sow inventory sharply as it pursues what it calls a “raise fewer, raise better” strategy.
In a recent exchange with securities investment institutions, the company said that 2026 will be a year of “extreme cost reduction”. Kingsino said it aims to strengthen its fundamentals in what it described as a battle for survival and to narrow the cost gap with industry benchmarks. One of the measures is continued capacity optimisation, intended to lift farming efficiency.
By the end of March 2026, Kingsino had 60,100 breeding sows, including 15,300 gilts. That was 18,600 fewer than at the end of 2025, implying a reduction of roughly 24% in the first quarter.
In 2025, the company marketed 1.4751 million hogs, up 22.82% year-on-year. That total included 783,900 commercial pigs, of which 125,500 came through contract farming, as well as 684,900 piglets and 6,200 breeding pigs. For 2026, Kingsino has set a hog output plan of 1.5 million head, including 1.2 million from self-breeding and self-raising and 300,000 through contract farming.
Kingsino did not disclose its full pig production cost for 2025. It only said that, for 2026, its target sales cost for commercial pigs is CNY 12.50/kg (USD 1.74/kg). For weaned piglets, it aims to reduce costs from around CNY 310/head (USD 43.18/head) in 2025 to CNY 270/head (USD 37.60/head).
The company posted 2025 revenue of CNY 4.746 billion (USD 661.00 million), up 4.03% year-on-year, but recorded a net loss of CNY 293 million (USD 40.81 million). In the first quarter of 2026, revenue rose 12.52% to CNY 1.315 billion (USD 183.15 million), while the company again reported a loss, this time of CNY 185 million (USD 25.77 million).
It should be noted that feed processing remains Kingsino’s main business. It accounted for about 67% of the company’s revenue last year, while pig production contributed about 32%.
Kingsino also said it has started shifting from a heavy-asset model towards a lighter-asset approach. The core of that transition is its “company + farmer/farming zone” contract farming model. By the end of 2025, the company had completed an initial layout in core areas including Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Anhui.
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