A consumer buys meat at a supermarket in Handan City, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua)

China released 16,000 tonnes of pork from its central reserves on Thursday 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.