China rushes to buy fatty pigs: Farmers will suffer if caught up in the "virtual fever"

"When farmers see high prices and high demand, they will rebuild their herds very quickly to meet demand. However, when the pigs reach the weight to sell, the price is not the same, and China even stops buying, causing farmers to suffer losses."

This morning (April 14), Mr. Nguyen Van Trong - Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) talked with Dan Viet about the situation of China massively importing fatty pigs from Vietnam.

What is your assessment of the situation of China massively buying fatty pigs from Vietnam?

- We understand this issue very well, China buying fat pigs is normal, not just this year but for many years. Chinese traders have bought fat pigs from Vietnam many times, farmers must be happy because they have helped to sell their products easily, the price of pigs has increased, helping farmers make a profit.

China has a huge demand for pork, their production cannot meet it, so they have to import a lot from Vietnam. Not only pork, but also other agricultural products. But they mainly import and export through small-scale trade, which makes farmers very passive, because the Chinese market is very erratic.

Mr. Nguyen Van Trong - Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry.

Does the Department of Animal Husbandry have statistics on the import of fat pigs from China, sir?

- Informal imports cannot be counted, and the statistics cannot be accurate. Only official imports have accurate numbers.

Many people believe that China is buying pork fat in large quantities because of concerns that Vietnamese farmers are abusing lean meat and growth stimulants. How do you view this issue?

- This information is also unknown. Up to now, China has always used more fatty pigs than Vietnam because of the habit of eating fatty pigs. Because of that habit, they imported fatty pigs a long time ago, when the abuse of lean meat additives had not yet become widespread in Vietnam. They buy pigs weighing over 100kg, while Vietnamese people usually use lean pigs under 100kg.

The Chinese market is unstable, so the import of pork fat through unofficial channels is also very unstable. Buying through traders without contracts, does this cause consequences of increasing the number of hot pigs in Vietnam, sir?

- That's right, that's a big concern. When farmers see high prices and high demand, they will rebuild their herds and rebuild them very quickly to meet the demand. However, when the pigs reach the weight to sell, the price is not the same, and China even stops buying, causing farmers to suffer losses.

Farmers know this but cannot learn from it. Because of importing through small channels, they are completely passive, so there are situations where they buy in bulk and then suddenly stop. If they import through official channels, they have clear contracts and specific import-export plans. Therefore, there must be a direction for importing through official channels.

The Department of Animal Health is working with China on official imports, which is very good and should be supported. On the Vietnamese side, if they import their agricultural products through official channels, they need to put up strict technical barriers, and agencies need to coordinate smoothly to control diseases and product quality well.

Some farmers are struggling because China has stopped buying fat pigs.

Besides promoting import and export through official channels, what other measures do we need to take to avoid being caught up in the "virtual fever" of demand and prices from China, and to avoid oversupply and imbalance of supply and demand, sir?

- We encourage farmers not to increase their herds because of high prices, or not to abandon farming en masse because of low prices. Farmers need to be alert and proactive in raising livestock to provide products in stable quantities, with continuous and regular input and output. Only then can we limit the imbalance between supply and demand, and even if there is an imbalance, prices will not fluctuate too much.

Thank you!

According to Dan Viet