Vietnam to increase pig herd by 12%

The import of breeding animals and stricter biosecurity measures taken on large farms should lead to a recovery in the pig sector.

Large imports of pigs, mainly from Thailand, could lead to a recovery in the Vietnamese pig population in 2021, according to a Rabobank report. According to the bank, the pig population in the country is expected to increase by 8-12% this year, despite the fact that the country had outbreaks of African swine fever in some provinces last winter.

Analysts believe that the impact of the disease has decreased, although it still threatens small family farms. At large facilities, disease risks are already considered negligible due to biosecurity measures taken over the past two years.

The number of sows in Vietnam is constantly increasing, but it is estimated that a large number of animals are still crossbred females, which have lower production than F1 females. This situation is expected to continue in 2021 as it will take some time to increase the number of F1 sows. In 2020, Vietnam imported breeding sires, mainly from Thailand. In general, imports of breeding animals reached 242,000 heads in 2020 compared to 3,000 heads in 2019. Imports account for less than 10% of the total sow stock. The Bank expects imports of breeding pigs to continue in 2021.