Customers buy pork at a Vissan store. — VNS

To reduce oversupply and help farmers, Vissan Co. Ltd will buy and slaughter an additional 200 to 300 pigs a day, raising the company’s additional purchases over the normal number to 500-600 pigs a day.

Speaking at a meeting with the media in HCM City on May 18, Nguyen Ngoc An, the company’s general director, said the move had raised the total number of pigs slaughtered at its facilities to 1,600-1,800 a day.

The company will use cold warehouses of APT Logistics and SATRA to freeze the additional pork, he said.

Nguyen Phuc Khoa, Vissan’s chairman, said his company had stopped pork imports since February and had increased local purchases.

The pigs meet VietGap standards, or are bred under the Livestock Competitiveness and Food Safety Project (Lifsap), and are from farms participating in a HCM City programme to trace their origin, he said.

To stimulate demand, Vissan will continue to offer 10-15 per cent discounts on certain pork products at Saigon Co.op’s outlets, Vinmart, Vinmart+ and other supermarkets, that sell its pork products.

In addition, it will cut prices by 5-10 per cent on some processed food.

The price of live pigs has dropped sharply because of oversupply, causing big losses for farmers. — VNS