Domestic live hog prices have fallen sharply while the price of pork at markets and supermarkets is 1.5 to five times higher.

From the beginning of March until now, live hog prices have dropped sharply, causing heavy losses to farmers.

Current live hog prices across the country are below VND47,000 (US$2) per kilo, down more than 10 per cent compared to early this year.

Meanwhile, the price of live hog at companies such as C.P. Viet Nam Livestock Company is currently around VND48,000-51,000 per kilo.

With the current price, pig farmers are taking heavy losses. Currently, the cost to raise a pig is VND60,000 per kilo. Thus, when selling at VND47,000 per kilo, the farmer loses VND13,000 per kg of live hog.

With the current prices, farmers and small-scale farms do not dare to re-herd. In the long term, the farmers still have to follow the production chain to bring production costs down.

The price of live pigs went down, but the retail price of pork at traditional markets and supermarkets is still high.

The current selling price of pork is around VND90,000-VND170,000 per kilo.

Compared to the price of live pigs, these items at traditional markets are 1.5-3.5 times higher.

Meanwhile, in the supermarket system, the retail price of pork is higher than the traditional market by VND30,000-40,000 per kilo. For example, the price of pork neck bone is VND70,000 per kilo, pork leg is VND110,000-130,000 per kilo, and pork belly, young ribs, and lean pork belly are VND190,000-240,000 per kilo, unchanged from early this year.

These prices are two to five times higher than the price of live pigs.

Explaining that the price of pork at markets and supermarkets is still high despite the sharp decrease in live pig prices, Tran Ngoc Hieu, a small trader at Hoc Mon Wholesale Market, said that the cost of transportation and rental stalls recently increased sharply by 20-40 per cent.

Therefore, after adding these costs, the price of meat can't be adjusted down. — VNS