Import of live pigs helps lower pig price in Vietnam

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in the afternoon of June 17, the first 500 live pigs imported from Thailand entered Vietnam through Lao Bao Border Gate in the Central province of Quang Tri.
Live pigs imported from foreign countries are quarantined at Cau Treo Border Gate in Ha Tinh Province. (Photo: MARD}
Live pigs imported from foreign countries are quarantined at Cau Treo Border Gate in Ha Tinh Province. (Photo: MARD}
These live pigs whose weight is from 90-130 kilograms per pig will be sent to Nghia Dan District in Nghe An Province for isolation and monitoring before slaughtering. 

From the beginning of May to now, there have been three batches of live pigs imported from Thailand to Vietnam with the total number of around 2,000 pigs. It is forecasted that enterprises will import 1.9 million pigs from Thailand to Vietnam in the future. Previously, businesses mainly imported piglets and breeding pigs to repopulate pig herds instead of live pigs to suppy the market and lower pig price like this time. 

According to a report by the MARD, in the first five months of this year, enterprises have imported more than 70,000 tons of pork, an increase of more than 300 percent compared to the same period last year. Currently, the total pig herd in the country has reached nearly 24.9 million pigs or 80 percent of the total pig herd before the African swine fever epidemic, with an average monthly growth of about 5 percent. It is expected that by the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, the demand for pork will be met.

Thanks to the policy allowing the import of live pigs to Vietnam for slaughtering, in the past few days, the price of pigs has declined from more than VND100,000 per kilogram to VND82,000-VND90,000 per kilogram and is forecasted to drop further shortly.

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