December 13, 2022

 

No shortage of pork in Vietnam

Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said there will be no pork shortages until the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays, Vietnam News reported.

 

Pork supply is readily available because farmers across the nation have raised more than 28 million swine from 16 large swine-raising operations, which together accounted for nearly half of the total pork supply to the market,

 

Prices for live pigs were dropping to below VND 60,000 (~US$2.54; VND 10000 = US$0.42) per kg as a result of the abundant supply.

 

Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade said that since late November, live swine prices have been declining as a result of a slowdown in consumer spending during a time of abundant supply.

 

In the second half of November 2022, live swine prices varied between VND 52,000 (~US$2.20) and VND 56,000 (~US$2.37) per kg, which was VND 2,000 (~US$0.085) to VND 3,000 (~US$0.13) per kg less compared to the end of October.

 

According to the ministry, pork prices may rise as we get closer to the Tet holidays due to increased demand, but the increase won't be significant. 

 

Late in November, in order to prevent domestic prices from falling and to support sustainable husbandry, Deputy Prime Minister Lê Văn Thành requested Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to study the idea of exporting pigs and pork.

 

The ministry asked provinces and cities to closely monitor market developments, advise farmers on proper re-herding, and look for ways to reduce input costs in order to ensure farmers' profits.

 

In addition, the ministry is collaborating with Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop solutions to promote sustainable husbandry.

 

Farmers were losing money, Nguyn Xuân Dng, deputy president of the Animal Husbandry Association of Vietnam said. He stated that it was necessary to seek measures to promote pork consumption and raise prices so that farmers could earn reasonable profits and maintain stable production.

 

Dng said that promoting pork exports could be a long-term solution.

 

Tng Xuân Chinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Livestock Production, said that prices and the development of safe husbandry areas were major barriers to the official export of pork.

 

He said that currently, Vietnam does not have disease-free swine raising facilities or areas that meet World Organization for Animal Health standards.

 

High production costs (around US$3 per kg) also made it difficult for Vietnamese pork to compete with other countries (for example, US$1.1 in the US).

 

Another issue was that Vietnam was heavily reliant on imported animal feed, making it difficult to reduce swine prices because animal feed accounted for 65-70% of swine raising costs.

 

Despite abundant domestic supply, Vietnam spent nearly US$200 million to import 89,000 tonnes of frozen pork in the first ten months of this year, a 39.6% decrease in value and 34.44% decrease in volume over the same period last year.

 

Meanwhile, Vietnam's pork exports were modest, totaling only 1,000 tonnes worth US$5.77 million from January to October, primarily to Hong Kong and Laos.

 

-      Vietnam News