Thailand becomes a major player in the Asian pig market
Thailand has become the main source for breeding pigs for countries in South-East Asia who are impacted by the ASF crisis. Thailand’s live pig exports in the first 7 months of the year doubled to reach 1.46 million heads, according to the latest Genesus Market report. Almost 80% of the pigs exported have passed through Cambodia but were probably destined to Vietnam, a country that suffered hard from the ongoing ASF outbreak. In 2019, the Vietnamese national pig inventory has decreased by 30% and for this year, authorities are estimating another 6% contraction.
"Nearly 80% of the pigs or 1,154,255 heads exported from Thailand during the first seven months of the year were destined for Cambodia valued at $247.64 million. Although no record available, it is understood that most of the pigs shipped from Thailand to Cambodia and moved further to Vietnam. Thailand exported 150,636 pigs in Laos worth $26.8 million during the period. Similar to Cambodia, most of the pigs landed in Laos are expected to ship further to Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Myanmar imported a total of 90,259 pigs worth $17.7 million from Thailand in the same period. Half of the pigs shipped from Thailand to Myanmar were piglets weight 16-26kg. The jump in live pig exports has pushed the local pig price over 20% year-on-year. Although the government fixed the local pig price at $2.6/kg, no one wants to sell at this price as exporters offered them up to $2.75/kg and above. Even so, the export price is higher, reaching $3.1 per live kilogram when includes costs of transportation, documentation, and veterinary inspection," reported Paul A. Anderson, General Manager South East Asia - International Sales Manager, Genesus Inc. Vietnam officially approved Thailand to export live pigs in June. From June to July this year, only 68,314 pigs were declared to export to Vietnam
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