Efficient reproduction of pigs and enhancing imports of frozen pork and live pigs have made prices of live hogs fall, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Over the past week, live hog prices nationwide gradually decreased each day.
(Photo: vnmedia.vn)

The ministry forecasts that pork supply will increase from the end of the third quarter, leading to stability in pork prices on the domestic market, according to the ministry's report on pork supply sent to the Government.

The report says so far, Vietnam has licensed companies from 24 countries to export pork and poultry meat products to Vietnam.

In the first seven months of this year, Vietnam imported more than 93,248 tonnes of pork, mainly from Canada, Germany, Poland, Brazil, the US, Spain and Russia, up 223% compared to the same period in 2019.

The ministry licensed imports of live pigs from Thailand to Vietnam for slaughter for food from June 12.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien also said Viet Nam did not set a quota for imports of live pigs and pork while the Department of Animal Health always created favourable conditions for customs clearance of pork imports. However, importing pork had been difficult as African swine fever had reduced the global pig output by 12%.

Over the past week, live hog prices nationwide gradually decreased each day.

According to the MARD, the production cost at present is VND71,000 per kilo of live hog if breeders buy piglets for production and VND50,000 per kilo if they build a chain from piglet production to pig production.

Tien said the ministry and agencies will continue to work to prevent the COVID-19 andAfrican swine fever, and breed pigs to ensure enough pork supply for domestic consumption from the end of the third quarter.

By the end of July, pigs for slaughter reached 4.87 million head, up 17% year-on-year. The domestic husbandry industry expects to produce 5.17 million pigs by the end of the third quarter and 5.36 million in the fourth quarter, up 68 percent compared to the volume at the beginning of this year.