Compared to week 32, price of live hog in Hanoi was down to VND41,000 (US$1.94) in week 34, a reduction of VND3,000 (US$0.142). Price of live hog in Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh also fell slightly last week. Current price is VND37,500 (US$1.78) in Can Tho and VND44,000 (US$2.09) in Ho Chi Minh, compared to VND39,000 (US$1.85) and VND44,500 (US$2.11) respectively last week. On the other hand, price of live hog in Dong Nai and Binh Duong kept increasing to VND39,000 (US$1.85) and VND42,000 (US$1.99) respectively. In Da Nang, price remained at VND40,000 (US$1.89) for the last two weeks.

  (expressed in VND 1,000/kg, VND1,000 = US$0.047)
    

Explaining the current price of live hog, Ph. D Nguyen Hong Ha, Director of Alpha Livestock Company attributed it to two reasons. Firstly, Live hog production moved away from Dong Nai, Binh Duong to Hanoi and the Northern provinces as the variance of live hog price in these areas is normally lower than in the Northern provinces, at around VND 4,000 (US$ 0.19) to VND 5,000 (US$ 0.24). With that variance, traders will be able to reap larger profits. This caused supply to exceed demand. This is the usual practice in Vietnam. Also, the psychological factor comes into play, When farmers found that the price of live hog fell slightly, their fear of losing profit caused them to quickly release hogs into the market, in hope of getting back a little profit.

According to estimates by the General Statistic Department, hog inventory reduced 1%-1.5% on-year. The reduction came from fear of low selling price and fear of disease outbreak although diseases have been kept under control.
 

 

According to the Department of Livestock, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, live hog price will become more stable in the future and will be lower than current prices. Agreeing with the views of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ph.D Nguyen Hong Ha said, "In my opinion, from August onwards, pork prices will not decrease but will stabilise. It will not 'heat up' like in the past, mainly because supply has improved significantly over the previous period. This is a very good time for farmers to increase production because the price of animal feed will not rise and will decrease. Diseases have been kept in control. Demand for food will increase at the end of year. I sincerely encourage farmers to increase production, rebuild farms as livestock performance will be extremely good". 

However, Nguyen Tri Cong, Chairman of Dong Nai Husbandry Association, predicted that the price of live hog will increase for one more month as some entrepreneurs and citizens will stock pork for the Tet holiday, which will fall in February 2014.