Vietnam imported about 89,000 metric tons of pork valued at US$189.2 million in the first 10 months of 2022, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

That amount represents a year-on-year decline of 34.4 percent in volume and 39.6 percent in value.

It included nearly 12,000 metric tons of frozen pork worth $26.02 million imported in October, down 5.6 percent in volume and 22.4 percent in value compared to October 2021.

The country exported over 1,000 metric tons of pork, earning $5.77 million in the same month, up 113.3 percent in volume and 68.6 percent in value year on year.

Hong Kong and Laos were its major frozen pork importers.

This shows that Vietnam’s volume of imported pork and pork products is 10 times higher than the export amount.

“Currently, the amount of pork exported is really small compared to the total production output,” the Import and Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said in a report, citing shortcomings in the processing stage, the forecasting of supply and demand, and disease prevention, as well as unattractive prices due to high production costs as the reasons.

Live hog prices decreased in the second half of November due to weak purchasing power and abundant supply.

The prices ranged from VND51,000 ($2.1) to VND55,000 ($2.3) per kilogram in the country on Monday, according to the Vietnam Livestock Association.

The Import and Export Department forecast that the demand for pork would increase slightly during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, which begins around the latter half of January.

The agency set a target to achieve the total production output of about 4.5 metric tons of live hogs in 2023.

It expects the prices to go up by five percent next year over a recovery in demand for eating outside and shrinking supply.

It also forecast that the demand for meat will not drop as international arrivals are expected to bounce back from the second quarter of next year.

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