Piglets are difficult to sell, many Nghe An farms reduce the size of sows

Pig prices are low, farmers have to pay a loss of 300,000 - 500,000 VND/pig, even up to a million VND/pig sold for slaughter. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Present,Pig price in Nghe Anfluctuates from 40,000 - 45,000 VND/kg, at this price, farmers are losing money. On average, for each pig weighing 100kg, farmers have to lose at least 300,000 - 400,000 VND/pig, if they are not "skilled in raising" they will have to lose up to a million VND. In addition, African swine fever is showing signs of re-emerging in many localities, making farmers hesitant and quite cautious in re-herding.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa Mai - President of the Farmers' Association of Nghia Binh Commune (Tan Ky) said: “Pig farming is the strength of the locality. At its peak, the total herd of pigs in the commune was up to 10,000. However, from around June 2021 until now, the total herd of pigs has decreased sharply, on the one hand because in other localities, African swine fever is still recurring, on the other hand, the price of animal feed has skyrocketed while the price of pigs has decreased sharply. Accordingly, peoplereduce herd, spread out littersand some households have switched to poultry farming or cattle fattening. Currently, large-scale livestock households in the locality are leaving 50% of their barns empty.

To minimize losses, many farms and households have had to accept leaving their pigsties empty and waiting for the pig market to improve before restocking. Photo: Thanh Phuc

People are cautious when restocking, reducing the scale, and many households even leave their pig pens empty, so the price of piglets has also dropped sharply. Ms. Thu Hung, a trader in Nghia Dan who specializes in supplying piglets in the Thanh Hoa - Nghe An - Ha Tinh region, said: "At this time, the price of piglets has dropped sharply, but there are very few orders, and the consumption has decreased by more than 50% compared to before."

With a scale of 100 sows, Mr. Nguyen Van Nhat, owner of a farmfarm specializing in providing breeding pigsin Nghia Khanh (Nghia Dan) said: “Every year, my farm supplies the market with about 2,000 breeding pigs. Due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the price of live pigs has dropped sharply while the price of feed has increased, so the demand for breeding pigs for production has decreased sharply. Fortunately, the facility has a large-scale barn system, so for the unsold batches, we switch to raising and selling pigs for meat.”

Mr. Nhat added that on average, for each super lean pig from breeding to selling (about 10kg), he has to invest about 1,000,000 VND (breeding, food, vaccines). With the current selling price of 1.1 million VND/pig, there is no profit when having to pay for labor, electricity, water, etc.

However, Mr. Nhat's pig breeding farm is still lucky to have stable orders from farms and households. There are many households raising sows, even though the price is low (only 750,000 - 800,000 VND/pig), accepting the loss but still cannot sell, do not have a barn to raise so have to sell to meat shops at the same price as pork.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nhat, owner of a pig breeding farm in Nghia Khanh, Nghia Dan, said that the cost for a pig from mating to selling is about 1 million VND. With the current selling price of 1.1 million VND/super lean pig, it is only break-even, not profitable. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Faced with the situation of escalating prices of animal feed, veterinary medicine, and disease prevention chemicals, while piglets are difficult to sell, many pig breeding farms have had to reduce their scale, eliminate poor quality sows, and reduce insemination of sow herds to reduce the number of piglets produced each month.

Mr. Dang Van Dung, Nghia Binh commune (Tan Ky) said: "Normally, my farm always maintains 60-70 sows, supplying the market with 1,200-1,500 breeding pigs every year, but due to reduced market demand and low breeding pig prices, the herd has been reduced to 30 sows. When breeding pigs are expensive, we breed 3 litters/year, with an average litter of 12-13 pigs/sow. Now breeding pigs are cheap, the cost is too high, so we reduce breeding and reduce the number of pigs/litter."

Many pig breeding farms have to re-screen their herds, eliminate poor quality sows, and reduce the size of their sow herds to avoid losses. Photo: Thanh Phuc

According to preliminary statistics, the province currently has 5,000 sows, concentrated mostly in farms and ranches, supplying about 6 million breeding pigs to the market in the province and neighboring provinces every year. Currently, production costs are high while the price of live pigs has fallen sharply, and breeding pigs are difficult to sell, so many sow breeding facilities are tending to reduce their herds. However, according to the recommendations of the livestock industry, facilities also need to consider and calculate appropriately to protect the sow herd and the capacity to produce breeding pigs so that when the market "warms up", there will be enough supply, avoiding the situation of pig breeding shortage and pig breeding fever like previous periods...