The Ministry of Industry and Trade said this is in addition to the more than 1,600 foreign pork exporters who had already been identified.

This follows Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue’s call for importing 100,000 tonnes in the first quarter of this year to stabilize pork prices. Imported pork costs VND35,000 ($1.5) per kilogram, a fraction of domestic prices. 

In the Mekong Delta, prices have recently fallen by 20 percent to VND80,000 ($3.5), while in northern localities, they are down 10 percent to VND90,000 ($3.9).

African swine fever, which is fatal to pigs but does not affect humans, broke out in February, causing pig numbers to fall by more than 25 percent between January and December last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. 

Pork output fell 14 percent to 3.29 million tonnes, it added. Imports more than doubled in January-November to 110,000 tonnes.