Pig farmers in southern of Viet Nam are potentially facing huge losses before Tet (Lunar New Year) as pork prices have plummeted by 15- 20 per cent in the last two months.
Authorities have been increasing imports to contain prices, and even allowed for the first time imports of live pigs to cater to people’s preference for fresh meat over frozen meat.
The domestic pork prices could be stabilised by this year end, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said at a Government meeting on Tuesday in Ha Noi.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that the ministry would ask 17 big animal husbandry companies to reduce pork prices to reasonable levels.
Some large livestock companies have reduced pork prices to an average of VND75,000 per kilo, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said after visiting the firms on February 16.
Large livestock enterprises should keep pork prices in check despite limited supplies on the domestic market due to African swine flu, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
This years inflation is controllable at 3.3-3.9 per cent, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue said while chairing a meeting early this week regarding the recent surge in pork prices, an essential foodstuff.