What do farm owners in Nghe An say when pork prices have not decreased?

Pig prices in Nghe An are currently high, from 78,000 - 80,000 VND/kg. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Below are the opinions of some pig farm owners in Nghe An province regarding the issue of pork prices not decreasing when sold to the market.

Mr. Le Anh Tuan - owner of a pig farm in Linh Son commune (Anh Son):

Photo: Quang An

Four days ago (April 4), I sold 2.6 tons of live pigs to traders at 69,000 VND/kg, according to the Government's price guide. The reason why pork prices to slaughterhouses have increased, in my opinion, is due to many intermediaries. For example, in Linh Son commune, when a pig farm sells pigs, traders in the commune come to catch them, then sell them to other traders, from there to slaughterhouses, from slaughterhouses to people who specialize in selling pork at the market. Thus, for a piece of pork to reach consumers, it must go through 4 intermediaries.

Mr. Nguyen Van Vu - owner of a pig farm in Dien Thai commune (Dien Chau):

Photo: Xuan Hoang

Since the beginning of the year, we have sold live pigs at 70,000 to 74,000 VND/kg. The reason why live pigs are being sold at high prices is because the price of piglets is high. Currently, a piglet weighing 8 kg costs 3 million VND/pig (previously only 1 million VND), along with that, the price of feed has increased slightly after Tet.

Therefore, to reduce the price of pork, I think we must first reduce the price of piglets. The problem is that currently, pig farms in the province mainly catch piglets from other provinces, because Nghe An does not have enough supply.

Mr. Hoang Quoc Hai - pig farm owner in Tien Phong commune (Que Phong):

Photo: Quang An

As a pig farmer with a scale of thousands of pigs/batch, I completely agree when the Government directs to reduce the price of live pigs to below 70,000 VND/kg. Because the Covid-19 epidemic is currently complicated, affecting people's income, if pork is still sold at high prices, it will affect people's quality of life. Moreover, if the price of live pigs continues to increase, I am afraid that at some point when people re-herd a lot, the price will drop sharply, and farmers will suffer the consequences.

However, to reduce the price of pigs for slaughter, the State also needs to adjust and reduce input prices for pig farming, such as breeding pigs, feed, etc.

Mrs. Nguyen ThiHai - a pig slaughterer in Nam Thanh commune (Yen Thanh):

Photo: Xuan Hoang

Pigs raised by small-scale farmers are popular with consumers because of their delicious meat quality, so we currently catch them at the farm for 78,000 - 80,000 VND/kg, while farm pigs cost 76,000 VND/kg. Currently, due to the impact of African swine fever, many households have not yet re-raised their herds, so the number of pigs in the population is not much.

In order for pork prices to drop to normal levels, in my opinion, first of all, farm pigs must have their prices reduced, because currently most of the pork sold on the market is farm pigs./.