Pork prices suddenly increase sharply, on track to reach record highs

Remember, in mid-February, at a livestock conference of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong called on and recommended large livestock enterprises in the industry to reduce the price of live pigs to 75,000 VND/kg, because at this price, according to him, it is reasonable.

Minister Cuong said that leading livestock enterprises must know how to protect the market and produce sustainably. They must meet consumers on one point, which is culture. Pork prices must be at a reasonable and harmonious level. At the same time, he warned that if pork prices are too high, it will turn consumers away because they have many other options such as: shrimp, eggs, fish,...

Immediately after that, large livestock enterprises simultaneously reduced the price of live pigs to 72,000 - 75,000 VND/kg. As a result, the price of live pigs at households and farms also cooled down, falling below 80,000 VND/kg.

However, consumers have not yet benefited from the continuous decrease in the price of live pigs over the past half month, but in the past 3 days, the price of pork has suddenly increased sharply again.

Pork prices have suddenly increased sharply in recent days.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Chuc - owner of a large pig farm in Phuc Tho (Hanoi) - happily boasted that this morning she had just sold 100 pigs, with an average weight of 120kg, for 86,000 VND/kg, earning a decent profit.

Half a month ago, when the pigs were about to be sold, she heard that the livestock company had reduced the price to 75,000 VND/kg and predicted that by the time her farm had pigs to sell, the price would drop even further. However, no one expected that in just 2-3 days, the price of pigs would suddenly increase sharply.

“Traders kept calling to buy. Every day, the price was a few prices higher than the previous day. Today, the price was 86,000 VND/kg, so I immediately sold it because it had been a long time since the price had increased so much. If I kept the price down, I would have lost money. However, if the price continued to increase like today, the price of live pigs would reach its peak compared to the end of last year,” she shared.

According to VietNamNet reporters on March 1, the price of live pigs for slaughter in most northern provinces increased sharply. For example, in Hanoi, the price of live pigs today increased to 85,000-87,000 VND/kg, while two days ago the price was only 81,000 VND/kg.

Consumers continue to have to eat pork at expensive prices.

Similarly, in Hung Yen, the price of live pigs increased from 77,000 - 80,000 VND/kg to 85,000 - 86,000 VND/kg; Hoa Binh also increased from 83,000 - 85,000 VND/kg; Phu Tho, Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Vinh Phuc... the price of live pigs is also at a high level, fluctuating from 86,000 - 87,000 VND/kg.

Mr. Le Van Tuan, a trader who buys large quantities of pigs in Viet Tri (Phu Tho), said that the price of pork purchased from the people is usually higher than the price purchased from businesses.

Businesses are selling at 76,000 - 77,000 VND/kg of live pigs for sale. But these past few days, the number of pigs sold by businesses is not much, quite a drop, he cannot buy pigs from this source.

Meanwhile, the current source of pigs raised by farmers is not much, leading to a shortage and sharp price increase.

Prices usually follow the law of supply and demand, with more supply and lower prices and vice versa. According to Mr. Tuan, if the current shortage continues, the price of live pigs will continue to increase, possibly reaching 90,000 VND/kg or higher in the next few days.

In contrast to the North, in the South, the price of live pigs is stable at 74,000 - 76,000 VND/kg. In some localities in Ben Tre and Vinh Long provinces, the price of live pigs has dropped to 70,000 - 72,000 VND/kg.

According to the latest report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, from the beginning of February 2019 to February 23, 2020, African swine fever occurred in 8,549 communes in 667 districts of 63 provinces and cities with a total of nearly 6 million pigs culled; total weight was 342,142 tons (accounting for about 9.0% of the total weight of pigs in the country).

In the first two months of this year alone, the disease broke out in 24 more communes, forcing the culling of 17,133 pigs. Currently, 8,224 communes (accounting for 96% of the total number of communes with the disease) nationwide have gone 30 days without any new outbreaks; 34 provinces and cities have 100% of their communes having gone 30 days.

Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show that, as of February 5, the total pig herd in the country is currently over 24 million, including about 2.7 million sows.

After the peak of the epidemic in May 2019, herd restoration was implemented immediately in localities. However, the time to restore the pig herd takes about 5-7 months. Therefore, according to reports from localities and livestock enterprises, since January 2020, there have been products of re-herded pigs.

It is forecasted that output will increase from February 2019 and pork supply for 2020 will reach about 4 million tons (under conditions of good disease control, especially ASF).

Accordingly, this October the pig farming industry will try to stabilize like the time before the DTCLP.

However, in reality, the price of live pigs is quite complicated. Meanwhile, at the market, the price of all kinds of pork is still high, consumers have to buy meat at relatively expensive prices, although there was a time when the price of live pigs for sale dropped to 72,000-75,000 VND/kg.