Many large-scale pig farms are suffering heavy losses. (photo: TL)

"This morning, I just sold 800 pigs for 42,000 VND/kg. For each pig, I had a loss of 1.5-1.8 million VND," said Nguyen Cong Bac, owner of a pig farm in Son La province.

Bac told VietNamNet that he had VND1 billion in losses in August and about VND2 billion so far this month (September).

According to Bac, small pig farmers who have to buy baby pigs and animal feed will suffer higher losses ranging from VND2.2-2.4 million/pig. The more pigs they breed, the bigger losses they will suffer, he said.

Bac is worried that the price of pigs is still on a strong downward trend, which may last until the end of October. It is expected that in early November, when the demand increases according to the market rules, the price of pork will start to rise again.

Nguyen Quoc Toan, owner of a farm with thousands of pigs in Hung Yen province, also feels like sitting on the fire. The pigs in his barn have reached a weight of 110 kg/head and are about to be sold. At the current price of VND 47,000-48,000/kg, he will get loss of VND1-2 million/pig.

On September 23, the price of live pigs was from VND47,000-49,000/kg in some northern provinces and VND48,000-52,000/kg in the central and southern regions, a strong drop compared to the previous months.

According to the Administration of Livestock Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), so far this year the price of animal feed has increased 8-9 times, with an average increase of 3-5% each time. The Covid-19 epidemic has made it difficult for the import of raw materials, while transportation costs have increased by 200-300%.

To remove difficulties for farmers and businesses in the livestock industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has proposed that the Government reduce taxes on imported corn, beans, and raw materials for animal feed production.

The Ministry of Finance has also proposed reducing the import tax on MFN (most favored nation treatment) of corn from 5% to 2%, and slash the import tax on wheat to 0%, in order to reduce the cost of feed production.

If these proposals are approved, it will have a positive impact on the restoration of livestock production activities.

Chau Giang

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