According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Russia, the US, India, the Netherlands and Poland were the biggest suppliers of pork and poultry products to Vietnam. Among those, Russia topped with 45,700 tonnes valued at USD97.4 million, up 437.5% on-year.
Pork sold at a supermarket in Vietnam
Meanwhile, between January and June this year, Vietnamese poultry product export value reached an estimated USD196 million, up 9.2%.
Nguyen Van Trong, deputy director of the Livestock Breeding General Department, said that since 2019, due to the impact of the African Swine Fever, Vietnam had imported more meat products. In 2020, Vietnam imported over 141,000 tonnes of pork worth USD334.4 million, up 502.9% in value against 2019.
Frozen pork prices range between VND60,000-130,000 per kilo, some 50% lower than locally-produced pork.
Trong added that imported pork now accounts for 4% of the country’s total pork, so it is not big enough to dominate the local pork product market.
The higher frozen pork imports have helped to reduce domestic pork prices, but in reality, many people still had to buy pork at high prices at 120,000-130,000 per kilo, Trong said, blaming this on intermediate distribution channels.
However, due to the ongoing Covid-19 spread, Vietnam’s meat consumption has decreased, so the country’s meat imports would be lower this year.
Pham Cong Thieu, head of the animal sciences institute, also suggested lower meat imports amid reduced demand due to the pandemic.