Pork is being imported massively into Vietnam at an average price of only 55,000 VND per kilogram, cheaper than the price of domestic pigs, causing the livestock industry to suffer.
Preliminary statistics from the General Department of Customs show that in the first two months of the year, Vietnam imported 105,140 tons of meat and meat products, worth 213 million USD, up 44% in volume and 38.8% in value, respectively.
Particularly, imported fresh chilled or frozen pork reached 8,460 tons, worth nearly 18.7 million USD, up 4.3% in volume, but down 1.1% in value compared to the same period in 2023. This shows that the price of imported pork is getting cheaper.
Currently, the average price of imported pork to Vietnam is 2,209 USD per ton (about 55,000 VND per kg), down 5.2% compared to the same period last year. Meat is imported from 19 markets. Brazil leads the market share with nearly 40% of the total pork imported into the country, followed by Russia with 32.22% and Canada with 9.5%...
At a price of about 55,000 VND per kg, imported pork is cheaper than domestic pork (58,000-63,000 VND per kg).
Traders sell pork at Vinh Hoi apartment market (District 4, Ho Chi Minh City). Photo: Thanh Nguyen
Faced with the pressure of cheap imported pork flooding into Vietnam , Mr. Nguyen Kim Doan, Vice President of Dong Nai Livestock Association, said that this has a huge impact on the pig farming industry.
Mr. Doan cited that last year, there were only about 2 months when pig farmers sold pigs at high prices, and the remaining 10 months had to sell them below cost (about 45,000-54,000 VND per kg). Therefore, for each pig sold, farmers lost 500,000 VND to 1 million VND.
Even large enterprises such as CP Vietnam and Hoang Anh Gia Lai have had to reduce their herds because of low pork prices. According to Mr. Dan, if smuggling is not stopped and official pork imports are not strictly controlled, farmers will lose money and reduce their herds and abandon their farms. As a result, the domestic pork supply will be in short supply and there will be a risk of dependence on imports. Invisibly, Vietnam, a country with advantages in livestock and agriculture, will find it difficult to stand firm in its advantageous industry.
Previously, four associations, including the Livestock Association, the Animal Feed Association, the Large Livestock Association and the Poultry Association, also appealed to the Prime Minister for help regarding the difficulties they are facing due to the increase in imported products. Foreign goods are encroaching on the domestic livestock market, putting unfair competition pressure on domestic livestock products. In particular, smuggled products are rampant, while official imports are not strictly controlled.
According to associations, countries around the world have protected their agricultural and production sectors by building technical barriers.
For example, the US, China, Thailand, and Japan require goods to be processed through cold heat with complex technology and high costs. Or each country only allows an average of 3-5 border gates to import live animals, while Vietnam has 30 border gates.
Therefore, Mr. Doan and the associations suggested that Vietnam open up to the world but needs to soon have technical barriers and trade policies to control official imports and have measures to prevent the spread of smuggled goods.
Without timely and drastic measures, livestock industry associations believe that in just 3-5 years, when tariffs on imported livestock products reach 0%, Vietnam will become a super-importer of livestock products.
Last year, the import turnover of livestock products was 3.53 billion USD. In addition, Vietnam also imported a huge volume of smuggled livestock and livestock products.
According to Thi Ha //vnexpress.net
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