China - The largest pork importer in history in 2008

China's overseas purchases and imports of pork and pork products in calendar year 2008 were unprecedented for any single country in history. Based on import totals from China and Hong Kong, the country imported 1.925 million metric tons (4.2 billion pounds) of pork and pork products last year, including 1.161 million tons (nearly 2.6 billion pounds) of pork variety meats and 764,000 tons (1.7 billion pounds) of pork cuts.