Sharp price drop
According to a survey in the southern provinces and cities, the price of live pigs is fluctuating at 62,000 - 63,000 VND/kg. Ca Mau has the highest price in the country at 63,000 VND/kg, while localities such as Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Can Tho, An Giang are all at 62,000 VND/kg.
Many livestock farmers in Can Tho said that from mid-February 2025 to now, this price has been considered to have fallen almost to the bottom, causing difficulties for production.
Mr. Le Van Tam (a livestock farmer in Can Tho City) shared that due to the impact of African swine fever, the price of live pigs has continuously decreased and remained at 66,000 - 70,000 VND/kg. However, in the past 2 weeks, the market has fluctuated strongly, prices have decreased continuously, to only 63,000 VND/kg, making it difficult to maintain production costs.
Sharing the same concern, Mr. Pham Thanh Quan (a livestock farmer in Can Tho City) calculated: "In March 2025, when the price of live pigs increased dramatically after the Tet holiday, on average, I earned nearly 3 million VND/ pig (about 100kg). But now this level has been reduced by half, due to reduced selling prices and increased input costs".
According to traders purchasing live pigs in the area, the current supply is still abundant but purchasing power is slow. To ensure a source of meat for the market, traders are proactively depositing to prevent unexpected price fluctuations.
hesitation to re-enroll
Faced with strong fluctuations in pig prices, high input costs, and the complicated developments of African swine fever, many livestock households are hesitating to recalculate how to re-herd.
Mr. Quan plans that after this herd discharge, his family will reduce the number of herds because the epidemic is very complicated, easily causing production costs to increase. In addition, the price of live pigs is decreasing, showing no signs of improvement.
Sharing the same thought, Mr. Tam said that if the price of live pigs continues to remain at 62,000 - 63,000 VND/kg, it will be very difficult for farmers to maintain production.
"With this price, if livestock farmers produce their own breeds, they will still have low profits. As for me, due to the increase in the cost of breeding animals, industrial feed, medicine... it is necessary to recalculate. Maybe, we will reduce the number of pigs for the new crop but instead take advantage of renovating and cleaning the vacant barns to prevent epidemics," Mr. Tam shared.
Previously, the People's Committee of Can Tho City had a concerted effort to implement drastic and synchronous solutions to prevent and control African swine fever in the city. The Chairman of the People's Committee of Can Tho City requested the Department of Agriculture and Environment to proactively monitor to promptly detect and completely handle outbreaks, prevent disease outbreaks, limit new outbreaks; resolutely handle the destruction of sick pigs, suspected of having diseases; advise the People's Committee of the City to proactively implement policies to support livestock farmers affected by the pig disease in accordance with the provisions of law; prevent and strictly handle cases of buying, selling, transporting sick pigs, dumping dead pigs that spread disease and pollute the environment.
At the same time, instruct livestock farmers to strengthen the application of disease prevention and hygiene measures for livestock farming; strictly handle cases of concealing and slow reporting that cause disease spread; proactively develop response scenarios in case of epidemics occurring in the city, assign specific tasks to local authorities at 2 levels.
