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With pork prices skyrocketing, housewives are being encouraged to replace the meat with chicken to economise.
The Animal Husbandry Department says prices of pork on the hoof have risen by 70-100 per cent within a year, and pigs currently cost VND64,000 per kilogramme in the South and VND65,000 to VND70,000 in the North.
Nguyen Xuan Duong, deputy head of the department, says these are equal to prices in China and higher than in Thailand. The department blames high general inflation, animal diseases, and Chinese purchases of large quantities of pork as the main causes of the rising pork prices.
Pork supply rose by 6.7 % in the first six months of 2011, compared with last year.
According to the Viet Nam Animal Feed Manufacturers’ Association, pork accounts for 70 %, chicken for 20 %, and other types of meat for 10 %t of the total meat consumed by Vietnamese, compared with 40-45 %, 30-35 %, and 20-30 % in developed countries.
In the past month, while pork prices have shot up, chicken prices dropped from VND41,000 to VND27,000 per kilogramme.
The change in meat-consumption pattern will offer an opportunity for restructuring the country’s animal husbandry industry towards sustainable development, Pham Duc Binh, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Animal Feed Manufacturers Association, says.
July 25, 2011
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