Pork price hits world high, is Vietnam facing serious supply shortage?

Pork prices have increased again, the highest price is up to 140,000 VND/kg, currently Vietnamese pork is among the highest in the world.

According to preliminary statistics, the price of live pigs in the North is commonly from 50,000 - 55,000 VND/kg. In many places, the price of live pigs has increased, of which, the highest increase is in Hanoi, Ha Nam, Hung Yen, Hai Duong,... the price is from 53,000 VND/kg to 56,000 VND/kg.

In the Central and Central Highlands provinces, prices also increased. In particular, Thanh Hoa province increased by 2,000 VND/kg from 53,000 VND/kg to 55,000 VND/kg, which is a relatively high price compared to the whole region. In other localities such as Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Nghe An,... prices ranged from 50,000 VND/kg to 53,000 VND/kg.

Pig prices in the South continued to increase by about 1,000 VND/kg. In Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc, the price of live pigs increased to 51,000 VND/kg, in Dong Nai, the price fluctuated around 52,000 VND/kg...

Many opinions say that pork prices are always "dancing" and increasing, many farm owners expressed: Pig prices may continue to increase even higher in the last months of the year.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - Owner of a pig farm, currently the number of pigs of sufficient weight for slaughter is not much. Some large enterprises with large-scale farming also limit the sale of pigs because they are mainly for internal use (processing sausages, smoked meat, bringing goods to supermarkets, etc.).

Therefore, to increase pork production in the market, pigs need to have a large weight. "Each pig sold increases by more than 10kg, the amount of meat supplied to the market will increase by 10% without increasing the number of pigs. Currently, the supply is scarce, if the farms sell smaller pigs, the shortage of meat will increase, pushing the price of pigs even higher" - Mr. Hung expressed his opinion.

Pig prices may continue to rise even higher in the last months of the year.

Many other farm owners also said that the number of pigs recently supplied to the market for the Mid-Autumn Festival was quite large. Currently, the supply is not as abundant as the Department of Animal Husbandry believes. “The number of pigs at large enterprises is not lacking, but if they do not sell them outside, just to meet the processing and consumption needs of enterprises, the market will still be lacking. Moreover, many farmers want to expand their herds but are afraid that when the pigs are old enough to be sold, the price will decrease.

"The problem here is that the livestock industry cannot accurately count the number of pigs nationwide, so it cannot support farmers," said the owner of a pig farm in Thai Nguyen.