With a shortage of 200.000 pigs, pork prices will remain high.

Speaking to VTC News on the afternoon of July 19th, Mr. Nguyen Van Trong, Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry, said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is implementing many comprehensive solutions to proactively meet domestic pork consumption needs, but forecasts indicate a shortage of approximately 200.000 pigs in the third quarter of 2020.

"According to reports from the provinces, the Department of Animal Husbandry calculates and forecasts that by the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, the demand for breeding stock will be basically met, and by the end of the year, there will be enough pork production to meet domestic consumption needs." Mr. Trong said that by the end of this year, Vietnam's breeding sow herd will increase to 3 million, bringing the total pig herd to approximately 29-30 million, thereby gradually cooling down and stabilizing the supply and demand of pork, and even aiming for exports.

According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong, Acting Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry, livestock production in the last six months of the year will still face difficulties; however, compared to other agricultural sectors, livestock farming still has more advantages as African swine fever has been better controlled.

The Department of Animal Husbandry has set a target of 15-17% increase in pork production in 2020. However, to achieve this plan, the entire industry must focus all resources on restocking herds in the last six months of the year, including breeding stock, capital, biosecurity, and disease control.

Earlier, at the Ministry of Industry and Trade's regular press conference, Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai stated that pork prices remain high due to a shortage of supply.

In 2019, supply decreased by 20% compared to 2018, and the first three months of the year saw a further 20% decrease compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, because many localities have not yet declared the African swine fever outbreak over, farmers are hesitant to restock their herds. High demand has led to a shortage of breeding stock.

To meet domestic demand, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has recently imported pigs for meat and breeding from Thailand.

We import live pigs from Thailand because it has a developed livestock system, is free of African swine fever, and has good infectious disease control measures.

Businesses supplying from Thailand must meet the requirement that within a 10km radius of the livestock farm, there have been no outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), or other infectious diseases for 12 months, that no banned substances have been used in livestock farming, and that samples taken for quarantine are no more than 30 days prior to the start of the quarantine period.

According to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of now, Vietnam has approved 24 countries to export meat and meat products from livestock and poultry to Vietnam, including 788 enterprises from 19 countries authorized to export pork and pork products to Vietnam.

Notably, the United States, Spain, and Italy are the three countries with the highest number of meat exporting businesses to Vietnam.

Meanwhile, the number of Vietnamese businesses importing pork and pork products varies from period to period, depending on business needs and market conditions.

From the beginning of 2020 to April 13th, 108 Vietnamese businesses imported pork and pork products.

In 2019, 600 Vietnamese businesses imported meat and meat products from livestock and poultry (an increase of 48 businesses compared to 2018), of which 150 businesses imported pork and pork products (an increase of 50 businesses compared to 2018).