BEIJINGJune 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On June 23, the Qinghai Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Xinhua News Agency Qinghai Branch, and China Economic Information Service Co., Ltd. jointly released the “Xinhua · Qinghai Yak Price Index” and the “Xinhua · Qinghai Tibetan Sheep Price Index.” Industry experts believe that the release and operation of these two indices will provide quantitative references for local government policy-making, enterprise procurement, and herder production planning, helping Qinghai’s livestock industry enhance its pricing power and brand influence.
Photo shows the achievement release conference for Xinhua · Qinghai Yak Price Index and Xinhua · Qinghai Tibetan Sheep Price Index held in Xining, capital of northwest China’s Qinghai Province, on June 23, 2026.
Qinghai is hailed as the “World Capital of Yaks” and “China’s Home of Tibetan Sheep.” According to statistics from the Qinghai Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the province’s yak population has long remained stable at around 6 million head, ranking first in the country and accounting for approximately 34% of the global total; the Tibetan sheep population remains at around 12 million head, representing over 40% of the national total.
In recent years, Qinghai has consistently produced nearly 350,000 tons of yak and Tibetan sheep meat annually. The yak and Tibetan sheep industries have become vital pillars for increasing local herders’ incomes and consolidating poverty alleviation achievements. At the achievement release conference for the “Xinhua · Qinghai Yak Price Index” and “Xinhua · Qinghai Tibetan Sheep Price Index,” Gu Changwei, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Qinghai Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, stated that based on the practical needs of high-quality development, the current yak and Tibetan sheep industries in Qinghai urgently require the establishment of a transparent, efficient, fair, and reasonable market price formation mechanism to break down production-sales barriers, smooth connection channels, and enhance the overall industry’s bargaining power and pricing capability.
Gu Changwei said, “The release and operation of the ‘Xinhua · Qinghai Yak Price Index’ and ‘Xinhua · Qinghai Tibetan Sheep Price Index’ are of great value and far-reaching significance. These price indices can not only track market supply and demand and industry development trends in real-time but also guide herders to scientifically arrange slaughter schedules, stabilize industry expectations, tell the industry’s story through digital and standardized achievements, continuously expand the brand potential of ‘Qinghai Yak’ and ‘Qinghai Tibetan Sheep,’ and steadily enhance brand influence, market bargaining power, and product pricing power.”
Sun Aidong, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Xinhua News Agency Qinghai Branch, stated that Qinghai’s unique ecological endowments have nurtured the nationally renowned yak and Tibetan sheep industries. As a national news agency and a global news organization, Xinhua has always paid close attention to Qinghai and dedicatedly promoted it. Collaborating with the Qinghai Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to create the “Xinhua · Qinghai Yak Price Index” and “Xinhua · Qinghai Tibetan Sheep Price Index” is a practical measure by Xinhua to leverage its economic information services and think tank research advantages, aiding the digital transformation of Qinghai’s agriculture and animal husbandry.
Sun Aidong emphasized that, relying on Xinhua’s multimedia communication matrix, national high-end think tank advantages, and international communication effectiveness assessment capabilities, the Xinhua News Agency Qinghai Branch will work alongside the Qinghai Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to act as a “guardian” for index operation and maintenance, an “amplifier” for Qinghai brand communication, and a “connector” for industrial upgrading and empowerment, ensuring that data value truly benefits the industry and people’s livelihoods, contributing Qinghai’s experience to the high-quality development of plateau-specific livestock farming.
It is understood that the “Xinhua · Qinghai Yak Price Index” and “Xinhua · Qinghai Tibetan Sheep Price Index” take February 27, 2024, as the base period, with the base point set at 1000 points, covering two core categories: live animals and carcasses. The latest index operation results show that from 2024 to 2026, the price trends of Qinghai yaks and Tibetan sheep have shown a high degree of resonance, emerging from a trough and rising strongly, entering a new round of recovery-driven upward channel.
Industry experts, including Shao Ke, a researcher at the Rural Economic Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Zhao Hang, Secretary-General of the Cattle Industry Branch of the China Animal Agriculture Association; Liu Shujie, Dean of the Academy of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine at Qinghai University; and Hou Shengzhen, a professor at Qinghai University, pointed out that currently, Qinghai’s livestock industry is significantly impacted by the price of imported frozen meat, consumers have insufficient awareness of the value of “plateau green organic” quality, and the price transmission along the industrial chain is not smooth. Against this backdrop, the yak and Tibetan sheep industries in Qinghai must pursue an ecological, standardized, market-oriented, and brand-driven development path to achieve high-quality and sustainable industrial growth.
At the conference, Yang Mu, Vice President and Director of China Economic Information Service Co., Ltd., stated that China Economic Information Service, leveraging the professional expertise and data capabilities of the national-level index platform “Xinhua Index,” is fully building a “Qinghai Green Organic Agricultural and Livestock Product Series Price Index” system around specialty products such as Qinghai yak, Tibetan sheep, Qaidam goji berries, Yushu cordyceps, Xining cold-weather vegetables, and Hainan Prefecture cold-water fish, injecting new momentum into the construction of Qinghai’s green organic agricultural and livestock product export base.