Purchasing power decreases
Standing in front of a pork stall, Ms. Tran Phuong Lan (Bac Tu Liem, Hanoi) hesitated because recently, pork prices have increased rapidly, all types of meat have fluctuated over 110,000 VND/kg. Previously, when going to the market, Ms. Lan often bought 1kg - 1kg2 of meat of all kinds to store in the refrigerator for a few days, but now she has reduced it to about 7-8 bunches and bought other foods such as eggs, chicken... to replace them.
"Since the meat became more expensive, I bought less pork and switched to eating chicken, fish, beans... I used to eat pork, so I couldn't sell it, so I had to eat less if the price increased. Going out for breakfast like eating bun cha also sees an increase in prices because the price of pork has increased," said Ms. Lan.
According to the reporter's records, although the pig prices have now stagnated and have not increased as rapidly as in the first weeks of March 2025, they are still anchored at a high level. This has caused purchasing power to decline, and traders in traditional markets are fed up with sluggish business.
According to the reporter's records on March 25, the price of lean shoulder meat and pork only fluctuates around 130 - 150 thousand VND/kg, the price of dried meat is about 110 - 120 thousand VND/kg... This is a price that is still quite high compared to the previous time.
"Currently, the price of pork is high, many people are looking for other foods so there are many absentees. Normally, I sell one child for just over half a day, but now I have to try to sit until night and it still doesn't sell out, I have to sell it cheaply without any profit," said Ms. Ngo Thi Dinh, a market trader in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi.
Pork prices increase the highest in the past 3 years
In the report on the results of the work in the first quarter of 2025 and the key plan for the second quarter of 2025 of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, pork prices increased contractually compared to previous years. This is the highest price increase in the past 3 years.
Currently, the average price of pork in the North ranges from 74 - 75 thousand VND/kg, in the Central region from 75 - 80 thousand VND/kg, and in the South from 80 - 81 thousand VND/kg and is forecast to stay around this price until the end of March 2025.
According to the representative of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, domestic pork prices are higher than in countries in the region such as China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar... (56 - 63 thousand VND/kg), lower than the price in the Philippines (100-115 thousand VND/kg).
The reason for the increase in pig prices is explained by this Department because in the last months of 2024, epidemics occurred in some southern provinces, causing damage to the herd of sows. The Southeast provinces have tightened environmental management, conducted a general review to plan the relocation of large farms and processed livestock farms out of areas where livestock farming is not allowed according to regulations, leading to many commercial farms and processing farms leaving their cages empty or putting them into farming without capacity, causing local shortages as at present.
Another important reason is the positive impact of the results of the review of tightening imports of pigs and pork products.
In the coming time, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine will have solutions to stabilize pig farming, control the market, limit the impact of fluctuations in pork prices to the point of increasing CPI and sustainably developing the animal husbandry - veterinary industry.
