Enterprises allowed to import live pigs as of June 12

According to the instruction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), enterprises are allowed to import live pigs from other countries, mainly from Thailand, for slaughtering as of June 12.
Imported live pigs are checked and isolated at Cau Treo Border Gate in Ha Tinh Province. (Photo: MARD)
Imported live pigs are checked and isolated at Cau Treo Border Gate in Ha Tinh Province. (Photo: MARD)
The ministry on June 11 sent a dispatch to the Department of Animal Health under the MARD to entrust the department to issue specific technical guidelines on quarantine of imported live pigs into Vietnam for raising and slaughtering following the current regulations, ensuring disease safety for the domestic pig herds. 

The Director of the Department of Animal Health must be responsible for strengthening forces, working closely with inter-sector forces at the border gates and local authorities, strictly controlling the import of live pigs into Vietnam; must be responsible before the law and before the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for ensuring the disease safety in importing live pigs into Vietnam.

Up to now, according to the MARD, more than 99 percent of communes have announced the end of the African swine fever and are qualified to repopulate and increase pig herds. There are only 183 communes of 15 provinces hit by the epidemic for less than 30 days across the country. The country has nearly safe 900 facilities and pig-raising areas. The total pig herd is currently at 24.89 million pigs, accounting for 80.3 percent of the total pig herd before the epidemic.

The office of the MARD recently informed that from the beginning of this year to May 30, there were 129 Vietnam enterprises importing pork and pork products from other countries into Vietnam. The total imported pork was more than 67,638 tons, up 298 percent compared to the same period last year, mainly from Canada, Germany, Poland, Brazil, the US, Spain, and Russia. However, pork supply has not met the demand. The transportation of frozen pork is costly and takes a long time so the MARD put forward the policy to allow the import of live pigs from Thailand to Vietnam for slaughtering.

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