Provinces with big herds of pigs like Dong Nai normally transport pigs to northern provinces for consumption, but now the opposite is happening as the price in the south is VND5,000-7,000 per kilogram higher.
Provinces with big herds of pigs like Dong Nai normally transport pigs to northern provinces for consumption, but now the opposite is happening as the price in the south is VND5,000-7,000 per kilogram higher.
This has helped stabilize the pig price in southern provinces though the bird flu is spreading.
According to a member of the Dong Nai Livestock Association, southern provinces currently have a huge number of pigs transported from the north, which is contrary to what normally happened in previous years.
China imported a large volume last year and after it bought almost all in northern provinces, traders had to buy pigs from the southern region to supply the north. However, big exports to China have almost come to a standstill this year.
“In the past few years, live pigs in the south were always priced at VND2,000-3,000 per kilogram higher than those in the north. With such a differential, plus transport costs, traders will suffer losses if transporting pigs to the south. However, as the current price differential is VND5,000-7,000 and even VND8,000 some time, pigs are being transported southward,” he said.
The tendency of transporting pigs from the north began with a company having a large distribution system in the southern region a couple of weeks ago. Some other traders have followed suit.
Nguyen Xuan Duong, deputy director of the Animal Husbandry Department, said that supply from a region with a low price to another with a higher price would help market stability.
Nguyen Xuan Thoi, a farmer in Dong Nai Province’s Thong Nhat District, told the Daily that normally when a bird flu outbreak occurred, consumers normally shifted to using pork, pushing up prices of live pigs.
However, this time the pig price has declined by around VND2,000 per kilogram compared to last week while the chicken price has stay put at around VND44,000-45,000 per kilogram, Thoi added.
Pork prices at supermarkets and traditional markets have been stable over the past few weeks.
According to the HCMC Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the city consumes around 9,000 pigs a day, mainly supplied by neighboring provinces like Binh Duong, Long An, Tien Giang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and especially Dong Nai.
(Source: SGT)
