Vietnam's pork prices seen to plummet

The price of pork products in Vietnam's capital Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) will continue to fall sharply due to an abundant supply.

Major players cut pork prices by VND2,000 (US$0.10) per kilogramme over last week, and frozen meat prices by 5%. The prices of best-selling pork products at supermarkets such as Citimart, Coopfood and Maximark have been reduced by 10-15%.

Supply has increased considerably at the markets, especially in Binh Dien and Hoc Mon wholesale markets. Tran Van Hac, business director of CP Company, one of the key pork suppliers for the HCMC market and nearby provinces, said the increased supply was due to large shipments of pork from the north as a result of lower pork consumption in China.

According to sources, price cuts will cause losses for breeding farms, who are already incurring higher costs for feed. Each breeder could incur a loss of about VND100,000 (US$5.41) for each pig sold.