With approximately 34,000 pigs killed across Vietnam as a result of a reoccurrence of the African swine fever, the country is on alert to guard against the potential spread of the disease.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development recently requested that 18 cities and provinces nationwide that have gone no more than 30 days without a case of African swine fever, move to put measures in place to control any potential reoccurrence of the disease.

Outbreaks of the African swine fever have been discovered in as many as 773 communes across 45 cities and provinces throughout the country, including 25 communes that are suffering from fresh cases, 228 communes hit by a reoccurrence of outbreaks, and 520 communes who have been suffering from outbreaks since late 2019.

While the spread of the disease among pigs and the pace of herd decline appears to have slowed down, concerns remain regarding the risks of African swine fever outbreaks affecting the value of swine and causing price hikes.

Local administrations have therefore been requested to establish working groups, with technical staff being sent to outbreak areas to handle and prevent the epidemic from spreading further, in addition to controlling the transportation and trade of pigs across both farms and slaughterhouses. 

Last year saw the nation cull approximately six million pigs due to the African swine fever. This led to a sharp shortage of pork supply within the market, pushing pork prices to their highest point in history.

According to statistics, the country had 23.05 million pigs as of June, a drop of 7.5% in comparison to the same period from last year.

The decline occurring in terms of output has seen the price of pork skyrocket since the end of 2019, with the price of live pigs reaching between VND150,000 and VND300,000 per kg.