Livestock farmers are struggling because of high feed prices.

Mr. Truong Van Hai's farm in Hamlet 1, Nghi Van Commune (Nghi Loc) raises 100 sows and 1,000 pigs. Mr. Hai shared: During the recent Tet holiday, the price of live pigs improved when it reached 36,000 VND/kg, so I was planning to increase the total herd, but now the price is down to only 29,000 - 30,000 VND/kg.

Mr. Truong Van Hai in Hamlet 1, Nghi Van Commune is worried because the cost of raising livestock is high while the price of pigs is decreasing. Photo: Quang An

According to Mr. Hai, while the price of pork has decreased, the price of animal feed has increased; since January 2018, the price of pig feed has increased twice, each 25kg bag of feed has increased by an average of 7,000 VND/bag, currently at 270,000 - 300,000 VND/bag. "BNormally, my pig farm spends about 27 million VND on feed every day. Now the price of feed has increased, raising it to 30 million VND every day..." Mr. Hai said.

Mr. Cao Van Hoang - owner of a nearly 3-hectare pig farm in Nghi Van commune also shared: Every time I import about 50 tons of animal feed, each ton currently costs an additional 200,000 VND, each shipment costs an additional 10 million VND. It is worth mentioning that if I sell at this time at 30,000 VND/kg of live pigs, I will lose money, and if I keep the pigs, the daily feed cost will also be very high.

Due to the increase in bran prices, some farm owners have had to reduce the amount of feed to reduce costs. Photo: Quang An

This is also the common situation of many farm owners in the province. Most people are worried because the cost of raising livestock is increasing. Mr. Dam Minh Tuyen, owner of an animal feed dealer in Dien Nguyen commune (Dien Chau) said: Most types of livestock and poultry feed have increased this time; on average, each bag of bran has increased by 5,000 - 10,000 VND/bag depending on the type.

Not only animal feed, aquatic feed also shows signs of increasing after Tet. Mr. Le Van Tien in hamlet 12A, Dien Trung commune (Dien Chau) said that currently, the price of bran for white-leg shrimp of companies such as Lotus, Nasa, Viet Hoa, Nu Ri... has increased from 500 - 1,000 VND/kg, which means that each 10kg bag has increased from 5,000 - 10,000 VND/bag.

Aquaculture feed prices are currently increasing by 500 - 1,000 VND/kg. Photo: Quang An

Currently, people are focusing on taking care of the first crop of shrimp, which is usually short-term and easy to raise but has a low selling price, only from 100,000 - 120,000 VND/kg (shrimp for the third crop cost over 200,000 VND/kg). While the price of aquatic feed is increasing, many shrimp farmers are very worried because the capital outlay is large, not to mention the cost of seeds, electricity, medicine, etc.

The representative of JAPFA Confeed Vietnam Animal Feed Warehouse in the Central region said: The price of animal feed on the market depends on many factors, the most important is the raw materials stored in the warehouse of each company. If the company has a stable source of raw materials for production, the price of feed will be stable, if there is a shortage of raw materials and it has to be imported, the price will increase, that is an inevitable rule.

Through discussion, Mr. Le Trung Thanh - CEO of Mavin Ausfeed Nghe An Company said: The current situation of increasing animal feed prices is true, even some types have increased sharply. The reason is that input materials are increasing in price, especially imported materials from abroad. However, when agents come to receive goods at the company, we always give a specific price list to advise agents to sell at the company's price when it reaches the people and explain to people about this issue.

It is known that up to 80% of animal feed companies are currently forced to increase prices because of the scarcity of raw materials in the market.