Oversupply, epidemics, price whirlwinds and smuggled goods are the problems farmers have faced for many years. Many of them have given up but others have downsized their farming scale.

Oversupply, shortages and epidemics have been occurring over the last six years to the pig farming sector. Farmers, enterprises and consumers all have been caught in the whirl of the price storm.

It takes 165 days to raise a pig at a cost of VND6.5 million. However, the pig sells for only VND5.76 million. Nguyen Cong Bac, director of Loc Phat BLLT, said he has incurred a loss of VND2 billion a month.

Nearly 500 pigs have died of starvation in the northern province of Bac Giang as local residents prevented the transportation of feed as a protest against the farm’s pollution.

According to a recent report by Fitch Solutions (USA), Vietnam’s total meat consumption is forecast to grow by over 25% in the period 2018-2026.

As pork consumption is expected to rise in the short term, many big companies are injecting trillions of dong into pig farming, with a market value estimated at up to 15 billion USD.

“Merchants yesterday agreed to buy pigs at VND30,500 per kilogram of live weight, but today they lowered the price to VND29,500,” Hoang Van Chung, a farmer in Tuyen Quang, said.

Vietnam imported more than 46,402 tonnes of pork and related products as of April 13, rocketing over 300 percent from the same period last year, according to the Department of Animal Health.

Nguyen Xuan Duong, acting Director General of the Animal Husbandry Department from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, talks on the need to restructure  the country pig rearing industry.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will conduct regular inspections and deal strictly with the use of banned substances in animal husbandry, officials said.