Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Industry andTrade (MoIT) is keeping a close watch of the pork market and will promptly takemeasures to ensure supply amidst concerns about possible shortage due to outbreaksof African swine fever (ASF) in northern localities.
Talking to the Vietnam NewsAgency on March 8, Deputy Director of the MoIT’s Domestic Market Department HoangAnh Tuan stressed that the ministry will not let instability happen on the porkmarket.
According to the official, pigfarming is strongly shifting from small scale (households) to large scale(farms), with 70-75 percent of pork on the market coming from pig farms in2018, compared to 40-45 percent in 2014. He said the move has facilitateddisease control and helped reduce the spread of diseases.
Tuan reported that the volume ofpigs infected by ASF and thus culled has so far accounted for only 0.012percent of the year’s total supply, while supply of other kinds of meat isabundant, meeting consumption demand. In 2018, total meat output came to 5.35million tonnes, including 3.81 million tonnes of pork.
He said the ministry iscoordinating closely with the agricultural sector and pork production and tradingfirms in implementing measures to maintain demand-supply balance and a stablemarket for pork.
According to the official, ASFoutbreaks were reported in 36 communes in 17 districts of 9 provinces andcentral-level cities, all in the northern region, with 6,500 pigs weighing morethan 450 tonnes culled from February 1 to March 6.
The ASF virus does not affect humans but causeshaemorrhagic fever in pigs and wild boars that is almost always fatal. There iscurrently no antidote or vaccine, with the only known preventative measure is amass cull of infected livestock. The disease spreads by contact betweeninfected pigs or other wild animals and can inflict massive economic damage onfarms.-VNA
VNA
