Pig prices in Nghe An have dropped sharply.

Currently, Thanh Chuong has a herd of about 53,000 pigs, many of which are about to be sold, so the supply is quite stable. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In Thanh Chuong, the locality with the largest pig herd in the province, the price of live pigs has dropped significantly in recent days. Accordingly, the price of super lean pigs raised semi-industrially in large farms is 85,000 - 89,000 VND/kg, down 10-12,000 VND/kg compared to the end of May; while the price of pigs in small-scale farms has dropped to 80-82,000 VND/kg.

Mr. Phan Xuan Tung, owner of a large-scale pig farm in Thanh Lam commune (Thanh Chuong) said: "The farm has just sold more than 200 pigs to traders at the price of 86,500 VND/kg, a decrease of 10,000 VND/kg compared to the end of May, a decrease of hundreds of millions of VND."

Currently, the total pig herd of Thanh Chuong district is 84,167, of which there are about 53,000 pigs with 12 pig farms with a scale of 500 - 7,000 pigs, of which the number of pigs ready for sale is about 50-60%, meeting the local supply.

Ms. Trinh Thi Mai (Nam Hung commune, Nam Dan) - a trader specializing in purchasing live pigs to supply slaughterhouse owners in Vinh said: "For nearly a week now, the price of live pigs has started to decrease, decreasing a few prices every day, until today (June 16) it has decreased by more than 10,000 VND/kg of pig, on average each pig sold weighing 100kg has decreased by 1 million VND compared to a week ago".

It is expected that by the end of the third quarter of 2020, thanks to good herd restoration and disease management, the supply of live pigs will be abundant and pork prices will return to a reasonable level. Photo: PV

According to traders, when there was information that Vietnam imported live pigs from other countries to balance supply and demand, farms and households sold pigs instead of daring to prolong the sale and sell them "drop by drop" to wait for the market like before, so the price of pigs began to gradually decrease.

On the other hand, at many farms, the pigs are ready to be sold, so the supply has become more abundant than before.

Currently, pork prices in traditional markets have also dropped sharply compared to the previous week. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The price of live pigs has dropped sharply, but the price of finished meat in the markets has not shown any signs of "cooling down", many markets have slightly decreased compared to the decrease in the price of live pigs. Many traders still take advantage of the long-term high price of pigs to sell meat at high prices as before if buyers do not question, ask and bargain. Currently, in the people's markets in the city, the price of meat ranges from 140,000 VND - 160,000 VND/kg (depending on the type); in safe food stores and supermarkets, the price of meat ranges from 170,000 VND - 190,000 VND/kg; in rural markets, the price of pork is at 130 - 150,000 VND/kg (depending on the type).

Commenting on the situation of falling pork prices, Mr. Nguyen Van Trong - Deputy Director of the Department of Livestock Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said that on June 12, Vietnam officially imported live pigs from Thailand. Upon arrival, they will be quarantined for 5 days. If disease safety is ensured, they will be slaughtered to supply the market. This has affected domestic pork prices; the drop in pork prices is also due to the pigs being re-herded in localities since October 2019 starting to be sold.

According to calculations by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, by the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2020, the total pig herd in the country reached more than 28.15 million heads, the output of slaughtered pork reached over 3.8 million tons (equivalent to 2018 before the outbreak of African swine fever), so the price of live pigs will continue to decrease to a reasonable level.