Chuying Agro defaulted on ¥500M, offered bondholders hams — and lost its listing

Chuying Agro-Pastoral, listed in Shenzhen in 2010 as China's first pig-farming stock, came into 2018 leveraged and pledged: chairman Hou Jianfang's shares hit their margin-call line in June 2018 as the stock slid, and by October the group was on a court's judgment-debtor list over a trust loan. Its third-quarter report still forecast a full-year loss of ¥1.5–1.7B.

On 5 November 2018 the group failed to repay '18 Chuying SCP001' — a ¥500M, 270-day commercial paper with ¥528M due — blaming African swine fever lockdowns and transport bans for depressed hog prices and volumes. Four more bonds totalling ¥3.04B still stood behind it. In the negotiation that followed, the company floated repaying investors with inventory from its ham, gift-box and red-wine product lines; Chinese media called it the A-share market's first 'repayment in meat'. The offer was quietly shelved, and by January 2019 the loss forecast had ballooned to ¥2.9–3.3B.

The books were rotten before the pigs were. Exchange disciplinary decisions made public in October 2025 found Chuying's 2016 and 2017 annual reports had inflated assets, revenue and profit, while both of its audit firms had signed clean opinions — both were reprimanded. The CSRC had opened an investigation in March 2019; that summer the stock closed below ¥1 for twenty straight sessions, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange delisted it on 19 August 2019, and the shares went to the NEEQ delisted board on 16 October 2019.

¥528M note defaulted, ¥3.0B more bonds outstanding; FY2018 loss forecast ¥2.9–3.3B; delisted 16 Oct 2019 after 20 closes below ¥1

A single-commodity balance sheet met a price and logistics shock at once, with short-term paper rolling through the year.

Cash had been committed to sidelines — pledged stock, trust debts, funds and diversions — leaving nothing to meet a ¥528M maturity.

Reported profits in 2016–2017 were partly fiction, so creditors priced a company that did not exist.

Offering hams as repayment signalled management still thought of creditors as customers, not claimants with seniority.

A leveraged commodity producer with its founder's stock pledged and cash parked in sidelines has no shock absorber. When the cycle turns, 'payment in kind' is not a plan — it is a confession.

Delisting followed mechanically: the SZSE decision came on 19 August 2019 after 20 consecutive closes below the ¥1 face value, a 30-day trading period for exiting holders, and removal to the NEEQ delisted board on 16 October 2019. The CSRC opened its investigation in March 2019, and regulators later found the 2016 and 2017 reports had overstated assets, revenue and profit. In October 2025 the Shenzhen exchange publicly reprimanded both auditors — Dashen for 2016, Zhongxinghua for 2017 — for clean opinions on those reports and failed diligence such as confirmation procedures.