BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- China's top pig and poultry producer Wens Foodstuff Group Co. said Friday that its net profits more than tripled in 2019.

Net profits surged 253 percent year on year to 13.97 billion yuan (about 1.97 billion U.S. dollars) last year, according to a statement filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Business revenue totaled 73.1 billion yuan during the period, up nearly 28 percent from a year earlier.

In the first quarter of 2020, the company's profits came in at 1.89 billion yuan compared with a loss of 460 million yuan from the same period last year. Business revenue jumped 24.9 percent to 17.4 billion yuan.

China's pork price has kept retreating over the past weeks as hog production gradually picks up and starts to reverse the upward trend.

Last week, the average pork price index in 16 provincial-level regions tracked by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs came in at 43.38 yuan (6.1 U.S. dollars) per kg, down 0.3 percent week on week.