$1.1 imported pork for the New Year

January 06, 2020 | 15:20

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The increase of cheap pork imports will contribute to dealing with the lack of pork during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Cheap imported pork will ensure stable supply this Lunar New Year season

In the first eleven months of 2019, the average cost of imported pork was $1,117 per tonne or VND25,950-26,000 ($1.1) per kilogramme. After adding tariffs and other expenses, the price of this imported pork came to VND33,000-35,000 ($1.4) per kg. The main import markets are Poland, Germany, France, the United States, and the Netherlands.

According to statistics published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the complexities caused by the African Swine Fever (ASF) reduced the supply of local pork by 200,000 – 380,000 tonnes, down 7-10 per cent on-year.

In November alone, Vietnam imported 15,000 tonnes of pork for $15.9 million, up 164 per cent in quantity and 113 per cent in turnover, compared to November 2018. In general, in these 11 months, total pork imports reached 110,000 tonnes and $124 million, signifying an increase of 108 per cent on-year in weight.

At present, the most-favoured nation (MFN) tariff on frozen imported pork is 10 per cent and 25 per cent for raw imported pork. For countries with which Vietnam has signed free trade agreements, the MFN tariff is between 3-21 per cent.

1,641 foreign-invested enterprises are allowed to export pork and processed meat products to Vietnam while 140 Vietnamese enterprises are allowed to import products from these businesses.

In order to deal with the pork shortage, especially during the Lunar New Year, numerous supermarkets including Big C, VinMart, and Saigon Co.op issued promotion programme to encourage customers to buy imported meat.

According to statistics published by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the early days of 2020, the selling price of live pig in the north is approximately VND90,000-95,000 ($4) per kg.

By Ha Vy

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