Pork prices remain at high levels

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the amount of imported pork has increased heavily but the prices of pork in the market are still hovering at high levels.
By the end of April, the value of meat and meat products imported by Vietnam hit US$1.36 billion, an increase of 17.6 percent compared to the same period last year. Of which, live cattle imports were highest with more than $204 million, up 102.8 percent. Frozen beef reached $116 million, up 88.5 percent. Chicken meat nearly touched $80 million, up 50.7 percent. Pork alone hit $39.7 million, up 445 percent.

In terms of import ratio, pork saw the highest increase with nearly 445 percent. However, this ratio has not been able to cool down the pork prices in the market. The price of pigs in May still nails at an extremely high level, around VND100,000 per kilogram. The prices of pork at markets swung from VND200,000 to VND300,000 per kilogram, depending on each type of meat cut. Explaining this matter, the MARD said that although meat imports increased, domestic demand has not been met. Meanwhile, the domestic meat supply is slightly declining. In the first four months of this year, excluding poultry flock with an increase of 14 percent, cattle herd slid 2 percent and pig herd dropped 13.2 percent. Currently, the situation of animal husbandry in the country has started to be stable and the repopulation will be carried out shortly.

By the end of April, there was no case of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus which causes the blue ear disease while the African swine fever continued to be controlled, creating favorable conditions for large-scale pig farming facilities to carry out repopulation. However, it was recorded that there was an A/H5N6 avian influenza outbreak in Ninh Binh Province and an A/H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in Can Tho City that has not passed 21 days, and two cases of foot-and-mouth disease in pigs in Kon Tum Province. Besides, there were 106 communes in 47 districts of 20 provinces with African swine fever outbreaks that have not passed 30 days.

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