‘Blue ear’ scare is over, pass the pork belly!

Small merchants at Hanoi markets are happy because pork is selling well again and the price of other meats and fish remains high.

A couple of weeks ago, at the height of the ‘blue ear pig disease’ epidemic in the Red River Delta area, Hanoians turned their backs on pork. Though the meat offered at the market was certified as safe by veterinary inspectors, customers weren’t taking chances.

Now things are nearly back to normal.

Huong in Hanoi’s Dong Da district says that she and her family still aren’t eating quite as much pork as previously. “We love it – all kinds of pig meat.” Huong explains. “Heck, it’s the main kind of meat in the meals of Vietnamese people. However, lately, seeing the stories about the blue ear epidemic, we haven’t dared to eat pork regularly. We’ve been eating other meats and fish even though they cost more.”

Huong’s decision to buy pork again is typical of most housewives. Quang, a butcher at Hanoi’s Long Bien Market, said that the demand has soared in the last ten days. Quang can butcher and sell two pigs a day, he relates happily, even more than in the days before the blue ear pig disease broke out.

A VietNamNet survey reveals that pork prices at Hom, Phung Khoang, Kham Thien, Hao Nam and Thai Thinh markets are back to their old levels, 50,000 to 70,000 dong per kilo.

However, while worries that pork won’t sell have been eased, farmers still fear that the blue ear epidemic may spread to their pigpens. Many reportedly have been trying to sell off all their pigs, even those that haven’t yet reached slaughter weight.

Nguyen Thanh Son, Deputy Director of the Husbandry Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), adds that breeders have been selling very slowly, which shows that Red River Delta farmers are dropping out of pig husbandry. Meanwhile, animal feed prices are up sharply. Son thinks that pork will be short supply in the months ahead.

It might be thought that with customers again loading up on pork, the price of

fish, beef, chicken and shrimp would go down. Unfortunately for consumers, that’s not so.

The price of field crabs, for example, has surged from 8000 dong per kilo to 9000 and then to 10,000. Ordinary [free range] chicken meat is up to 100,000 dong per kilo from its usual 75,000, while ‘industrial chicken’ was selling for 60,000 per kilo at Hanoi’s Gia Lam market. Chicken eggs are fetching 2850 dong each, and duck eggs only slightly less, 2500.

Small merchants at the markets say that the recent hot, wet weather’s to blame.

Beef filet costs 160,000 to 180,000 dong per kilo, tenderloin 200,000 dong – in both cases up to 40,000 dong more than before the outbreak of blue ear pig disease. Vendors claim it’s because last year’s cold snap interfered with cattle breeding, reducing the amount of beef now reaching the market.

Shrimp and beef also remain at high levels. Small white leg shrimp are selling at 120,000 dong per kilo, while black tiger shrimp, where they can be found, are going for 250,000 to 280,000 dong per kilo.

Tags: blue-ear pig disease, Vietnam agriculture