Relentless efforts to boost sales of pigs in Dong Nai Province have brought about initial positive results, with 85,000 live pigs in the province finding buyers in the past month, chairwoman of the Dong Nai Farmers' Union Hoang Thi Bich Hang said on June 6.
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| Pork processing at Vissan, one of the processors that support pork consumption |
Relentless efforts to boost sales of pigs in Dong Nai Province have brought about initial positive results, with 85,000 live pigs in the province finding buyers in the past month, chairwoman of the Dong Nai Farmers’ Union Hoang Thi Bich Hang said on June 6.
Hang said these pigs weigh 80 to 100 kilos each and are sold at VND24,000-32,000 per kilo, still far below the production cost of VND36,000-40,000.
At a meeting with the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade on May 9, Dong Nai’s Department of Industry and Trade suggested HCMC help consume 10,000 pigs a day to free up 300,000 unsold pigs. However, since pork consumption of the city had become saturated, the province had to take measures to increase local consumption to help itself.
In particular, the provincial government has asked 21 enterprises with large numbers of employees, supermarkets and traditional markets in the province to increase purchases of pork. Besides, the province has increased the number of safe pork selling booths (which is 24 at the moment) with each able to sell 25-30 pigs a day.
According to Hang, the province still has a herd of about 1.66 million pigs. Although the number of unsold pigs has decreased, pork prices have remained low due to market saturation.
Meanwhile, in Long An Province, the pork glut has also eased to some extent.
Deputy director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Dinh Thi Phuong Khanh said the province is taking measures to scale down the pig herd and increase prices of pigs at farms.
Since April 25, the province’s pig herd has declined from 299,000 to 200,000 pigs while prices of live pigs have risen from VND23,000-25,000 to VND28,000-32,000 per kilo.
“Long An Province sells about 3,000 pigs per month. Some 30-40% of them are transported to HCMC and the remainder to local industrial zones, traditional markets and supermarkets,” Khanh said.
To help boost pork consumption, meat processor Vissan offers 30-42% discounts on VietGAP pork until June 10 at all Vissan booths in Saigon Co.op supermarkets
and other mini-mart chains such as Vinmart and Aeon Citimart. Pork on sale is from pigs collected at farms that meet VietGAP standards.
(Source:SGT)
