In Vietnam, pork prices are hitting a 4-year high. Three key factors can explain this:
- Feed prices have increased a 9.6% since a year ago, so re-herding of pig population isn’t happening as same speed as the domestic demand of pork. Even so, producers are relatively happy because Farm gate prices are also at top, allowing them to be profitable, but consequences of these prices are being transferred to retail, with pork getting more and more expensive in large supermarket chains. Consumers start facing affordability challenges, highlighting the need to stabilize the market.
For example, in Ha Hien Food Company, a major pork supplier to big chain supermarkets like Winmart, each kilogram of pork ribs on the 30th of August was at a price of 163,000 VND (5.98 EUR) [1]. And pork belly was 132,000 VND (4.88 EUR). That is 30% more for both commodities in comparison with the same time last year.
- Second, the country has had 46 out of 58 provinces with African Swine Fever since the beginning of the year. Currently, the whole country has 247 outbreaks, and the outbreaks are expected to increase by 2.4 times compared to the same period in 2023 [2].
There are no controls before live pigs are sold to slaughterhouses. There are no invoices, quarantine certifications or documents of infected pigs so they are sold to slaughterhouses and then being sent to many places in the market.
Vietnam is starting to pay more attention to imported pork. Currently, domestically produced meat meets 95% of domestic consumption [3]. As so, hundreds of thousands of tons of foreign meat have flooded into Vietnam since the beginning of the year. In the second quarter of 2024, Vietnam’s meat and meat product imports are expected to continue their upward trend.
Based on data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam spent more than 393 million USD importing meat and meat products for this second quarter of the year, of which 60 million USD was destined to pork [4]. The average import price in Vietnam is at 55,000 VND/kg (2.01 EUR) down 5,2% over the same period in 2023 [5]. Imported pork has more competitive prices than fresh domestic pork from slaughter.
[1] Pork price on August 30, pork ribs kept at 163,000 VND/kg in Ha Hien (vietnambiz.vn)
[2] ASF situation in Asia & Pacific update (fao.org)
[3] Hundreds of thousands of tons of foreign meat have flooded into Vietnam since the beginning of the year – The import price is only 55,000 VND/kg, the most from this country (soha.vn)
[4] Vietnam spends more than 60 million USD on pork imports in Q2/2024 (doanhnhansaigon.vn)
[5] Hundreds of thousands of tons of foreign meat have flooded into Vietnam since the beginning of the year – The import price is only 55,000 VND/kg, the most from this country (soha.vn)
