Live pig prices increased sharply, reaching a 5-year peak

PIG PRICES ARE INCREASING AGAINST THE RULES

As of the morning of May 28, 2024, agricultural product price survey systems reported that the price of live pigs in the North decreased slightly by 1,000 VND/kg after a long series of price increases. Accordingly, the three provinces of Bac Giang, Ha Nam and Hanoi also adjusted to 68,000 VND/kg – on par with Yen Bai, Lao Cai, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh. In the remaining provinces, live pig transactions were at the highest level of 69,000 VND/kg – unchanged from yesterday morning (May 24).

In the Central – Central Highlands region, the price of pigs (pigs) was slightly flat compared to yesterday, currently the highest price in the region is 69,000 VND/kg recorded in Lam Dong. One price lower is the Binh Thuan province area, with a stable level of 68,000 VND/kg.

Unlike the above regions, the price of pork in the South continued to increase slightly by 1,000 VND/kg in many places: in Kien Giang and Dong Nai, it was adjusted respectively to 69,000 VND/kg and 70,000 VND/kg. Currently, Dong Nai province is the area with the highest live pig price nationwide.

Mr. Truong Sy Ba, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BAF Vietnam Agriculture Joint Stock Company, said the current cost of raising pigs is 55,000 VND/kg. With high slaughter prices at this time, the profit is 12,000 – 15,000 VND/kg of live pigs, each live weight (100 kg) gives the farmer a profit of 1.2-1.5 million VND.

Thanks to high pig prices, BAF’s net revenue in the first quarter of 2024 increased by 58% over the same period last year, to VND 1,292 billion. Deducting the cost of capital, the enterprise’s gross profit reached 172 billion VND, a sharp increase of 172% over the same period last year.

“BAF’s pig output in the first quarter reached more than 100,000 pigs, marking the highest output in the Company’s history. Besides, the price of input materials for animal feed production has also decreased by 10-20% compared to the previous period, contributing to increasing livestock efficiency,” Mr. Ba shared.

Explaining the phenomenon of pig prices increasing contrary to the rule of decreased consumption in the summer, Mr. Do Xuan Huy, Deputy General Director of C.P Vietnam Livestock Company, said that because throughout 2023, live pig prices were too low, farmers are unprofitable, so the number of pigs raised has been reduced. This has led to a large decrease in livestock production, and supply is lacking compared to demand.

Analyzing more specifically, Mr. Tong Xuan Chinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Livestock (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), said that last year the average price of live pigs for slaughter was only 48,000-52,000 VND/kg, farmers People lost 5,000 VND/kg. According to estimates, at farm scale, the cost of raising pigs is about 55,000 VND/kg or more, while for household farming it is about 60,000 VND/kg. Last year, for every pig sold, farmers had to suffer a loss of 5-10 million VND. Many households raised thousands of pigs, lost billions of dong, and had no capital left to regenerate their herds.

According to Dong Nai Statistics Department, in the first 4 months of 2024, the province’s pig herd only has 2,083.2 thousand pigs (excluding piglets that have not yet been separated from their mothers), down 1.27% over the same period last year. The reason for the decrease in the pig herd is due to the low price of live pigs (although it has increased but not much), high input costs and mainly because the price of animal feed is currently higher than before, leading to many livestock facilities have to “hang up” their cages or quit their job because of losses.

RECOMMENDATION TO DELAY GREENHOUSE GAS INVENTORY TIME IN LIVESTOCK LIVESTOCK

Commenting on the situation of pig farming at this time, leaders of the Department of Livestock said that it is very favorable, along with increasing output prices, the price of animal feed is decreasing. Specifically, raw material and animal feed prices in the first quarter of 2024 decreased by 12 – 20% compared to the same period last year.

“In the coming time, due to stable raw material supply and falling prices, domestic finished animal feed prices will continue to follow a downward trend, but it will be difficult to return to the price level before the Covid-19 epidemic,” Mr. Chinh analyzed.

Recently, the Vietnam Livestock Association issued official dispatch No. 51/CV-HCN on providing comments on amendments and supplements to Decree No. 06/2022/ND-CP. Accordingly, the Vietnam Livestock Association received Document No. 2526/BTNMT-BDKH, dated April 19, 2024 from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on providing comments on the Draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of Articles of Decree 06/2022/ND-CP of the Government regulating greenhouse gas mitigation and ozone layer protection, including adding livestock fields and facilities to the subject of greenhouse gas inventory glasses.

The Vietnam Livestock Association believes that reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting the ozone layer is the correct policy of the State to realize commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat global climate change that the country has made. We have committed to do it.

However, compared to developed industrial countries, Vietnam’s space to reduce greenhouse emissions is still quite large, with many fields that can participate, ensuring that Vietnam will achieve its emissions reduction commitments about greenhouses, such as mining industry, steelmaking, construction, transportation, afforestation, rice cultivation… While domestic livestock production is a field that is facing many difficulties compared to other economic sectors and compared to the livestock sector of developed countries.

According to the Vietnam Livestock Association, putting livestock facilities on the List of greenhouse gas inventories at this time is not appropriate, infeasible, and there is no sharing from the State with the sector that is facing too much risks in integration, when most countries in the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) that Vietnam signed, such as: CPTPP, EVFTA, Vietnam – United States… are all conditional countries and do not Livestock development time is much more favorable than livestock farming in our country.

“If the livestock industry implements these regulations, production costs will arise, increasing the cost of domestic livestock products, which is currently very high compared to developed countries. Just consider the cost of livestock products for inventory activities, each livestock facility loses 100-150 million VND every year,” the Livestock Association stated.

For these reasons, the Livestock Association requests that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment not include livestock fields and facilities in the list of greenhouse gas inventories in the current period, at least from now until 2027. Delaying this deadline gives farmers more time and conditions to get acquainted, acquire appropriate knowledge and technology, renovate barns and prepare resources to be able to implement the problems, which are still very new and complicated.