Pork supply expected to recover from this month: MARD

HÀ NỘI - The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said that the domestic pork supply is forecast to increase from February.

The pork supply is estimated to reach  三 三0,000 tonnes in February, and it will surge to  三 五0,000 tonnes in March,  三 六0,000 tonnes in April and May, and  三 六 五,000 tonnes in June. It is expected to increase to about  一. 一 million tonnes in the third quarter and  一. 一 五 million tonnes in the fourth quarter this year.

The total supply will reach over  四 million tonnes of pork this year if the African swine fever epidemic is controlled, according to the ministry.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phùng Đức Tiến the African swine fever epidemic is under control and many localities have focused on re-breeding pigs. Many localities have successfully reproduced pig herds, such as Bắc Giang, Vĩnh Phúc, Phú Thọ, Hưng Yên, Hải Dương, Nam Định, Thanh Hóa, Bình Định and Đồng Nai, so those provinces have enough supply for themselves and even for neighbouring provinces and cities.

The country now has  二 四 million pigs, including about  二. 七 million sows.

Pork imports

The ministry also said that in January  二0 二0, Việt Nam imported about  四, 五 六0 tonnes of pork, mainly from Germany, Poland, Brazil, Canada and the US. The imports were expected to continue growing in the coming months.

Tiến said MARD spoke with local enterprises to promote pork imports, while State agencies had created favourable conditions for the quarantine of imported pork.

However, local pork importing businesses said because of the African swine fever they faced difficulties in importing pork due to the low supply on the global market, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Meanwhile, pork exporters in other countries usually produced enough pork based on export contracts signed at least  三- 五 months ago.

This epidemic had caused pork prices in China to soar, so Chinese enterprises had been willing to import pork at prices  二0- 三0 per cent higher and in larger volume compared to Vietnamese businesses.

The ministry said pork imported from the US was currently at higher prices than other countries, such as Brazil, Poland and Australia, and had taken from  三 五 to  四 五 days to arrive by boat.

Moreover, local businesses needed more capital for importing pork because they must have deposits of tens of billions of Vietnamese đồng to import  二00- 三00 tonnes per month.

At present, the novel coronavirus epidemic has also had a great impact on trade activities, including pork imports by local businesses.

Therefore, MARD has proposed the ministries of Industry and Trade and Foreign Affairs to offer more support to local businesses in finding pork supply at reasonable prices in the US and other countries.

The Ministry of Finance needs to consider reduction of import tax for US pork while the General Department of Customs should facilitate the customs clearance for imported pork.

Việt Nam had  六00 Vietnamese enterprises importing cattle and poultry meat in  二0 一 九. Of which, there were  一 五0 businesses importing pork, an increase of  五0 compared to  二0 一 八.

Total imported meat volume in  二0 一 九 increased by  一 七 per cent and imported pork volume surged by  六 三 per cent year on year. - VNS