Chopra and Democratic FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter said the $5 billion penalty may be less than Facebook's gains from violating users' privacy.

The first thing Co de Heus, CEO of Royal Dutch De Heus, did after flying from Amsterdam to China was to discuss plans for a pig slaughtering and processing plant in the outskirts of Fushun, Liaoning province.

Besides the traditional feed business, its broiler slaughtering and processing sector has gotten a big boost in recent years.

Statistics from the company show the company and its partners have invested 15 broiler slaughtering and processing factories since 2008.

Despite huge market demand, most of China's slaughtering and meat processing industries are still fledgling.

Crop harvesting machinery, prefabricated or mobile construction, and snack food machinery products were the most searched products by the US buyers; Indian buyers were keen on mobile phones, sportswear and smartwatches; Slaughtering equipment, snack food machinery were the preference of Brazilian buyers.

With pig production fully recovering in the second quarter, the average price of these animals for slaughter dropped below the cost line from June to September.

He added that as the number of pigs for slaughter will rise until the first quarter of next year, the nationwide pork oversupply will continue for a while.

Chen also asked farmers not to blindly reduce the number of animals for slaughter based on the current rise in pig prices, or to rush to expand production capacity, in case there are bigger losses.

Chen Guanghua, vice-director of the ministry's Bureau of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, said the recent dramatic drop in pork prices was mainly because the number of hogs available for slaughter greatly increased and pork consumption decreased after the Spring Festival holiday.

By the end of September, the number of hogs available for slaughter had reached 370 million, Wei said.

They also take classes to learn about slaughtering fish, flash-freezing, packing and marketing.

Traditional fishermen use machines to slaughter fish, but this method can spoil the freshness of the meat.

To keep the meat fresh, Lam uses ikejime, a fish slaughtering method that originated in Japan.

Last year, the province saw around 6.3 million Tibetan sheep available for slaughter and produced 133,000 tonnes of meat, up 8 percent and 10.8 percent respectively compared with the figures at the end of 2015, said Wang Yuhu, head of the department.

In October, the number of hogs available for slaughter soared 26.9 percent year-on-year, and that of the breeding sows in stock surged 31.5 percent from the same period last year.

"He added that, "From raising chickens, to slaughtering to making skewers, the Chinese companies pay great attention to the freshness of food at every stage, and the production process is impeccable.

The year-on-year increase in the number of hogs in stock indicates that the number of hogs for slaughter will also witness a year-on-year increase in five to six months, which could fundamentally relieve the tight market supply, the ministry said.

China's livestock product and slaughtering sectors have basically resumed work and production as containment of the COVID-19 outbreak is improving in the country, according to the country's agricultural ministry.

The slaughtering industry also reported a work resumption rate of 87 percent among hog-slaughtering enterprises in the country and 83 percent of poultry slaughterhouses in 16 provincial-level regions had returned to work, Wei said.

The ministry will coordinate relevant departments to implement classification management of live poultry markets and organize slaughtering factories to dock with poultry farms, Yang added.

It is expected that the market will import 5,000 tons of fresh meat from Kazakhstan annually and will carry out cooperation in upstream areas such as animal husbandry, fattening operations and slaughtering, said Zhang Yuxi, chairman of the market, at a ceremony marking Beijing's first beef import from Kazakhstan on Monday.

Some of the pigs that were fostered earlier are ready for slaughter, while more frozen pork products are exiting warehouses.

Guangdong-based Wens Foodstuff Group Co Ltd, China's largest pig breeder, is expanding its breeding scale, and aims to accelerate slaughtering, food processing and fresh meat sales to increase pork supply, it said.

However, the smart pigs from Aliyun and JD are not ready for slaughter for the market just yet.

Meanwhile, poultry export enterprises in Shandong will receive training in various aspects, including breeding, slaughtering and hot processing, in order to meet the requirements of importing countries.

Local authorities immediately responded with measures such as slaughtering all infected pigs and carrying out quarantine measures in the vicinity, including banning the transport of all pigs and pork out of the area, the ministry said, adding the disease has been effectively controlled.

"Slaughtering companies have taken advantage and kept lowering prices for pig farmers.

Legislation is an effective means to address the issue of abusing and slaughtering pets.