Genesus Global Market Report South-East Asia, September 2020

Paul A. Anderson, General Manager South East Asia - International Sales Manager, Genesus Inc.

Thailand

Thailand’s live pig exports doubled. Live pig exports from Thailand to neighboring countries from January to July 2020 have doubled to 1.46 million heads valued at US$ 309 million year-on-year, according to official statistics. Shortage of pork in Vietnam is driving the growth as it is sourcing the pigs from Thailand through Cambodia and Laos.

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 US$ 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 US$ 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 US$ 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 USD 2.6/kg, no one wants to sell at this price as exporters offered them up to USD 2.75/kg and above. Even so, the export price is higher, reaching USD 3.1 per live kilogram when includes costs of transportation, documentation, and veterinary inspection.

Under a requirement of the Vietnamese government, 5% of the pigs exported from Thailand have to be tested for ASF, Brucellosis, and Leptospirosis diseases together with banned growth promotor namely beta-agonist. The test has to be conducted by official laboratories of the Department of Livestock Development (DLD). This costs the exporter about USD 65/pig tested.

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. This comes as only 13 trading companies from Thailand have been certified by the Vietnamese government to export live pigs to Vietnam.

According to DLD, Thailand produced 22.53 million pigs in 2019 and about 3.5% of which was exported. The production this year is expected to be in line with the previous year.

Philippines

Pork Producers Weekly Prices as of August 26, 2020 (NET Price)

Philippines Swine Inventory, by Quarter, 2020

January 1st	April 1st
12,795,721 heads	12,342,023 head

Vietnam

Vietnam’s shift from a centrally planned to a market economy has transformed the country from one of the poorest in the world into a lower middle-income country. Vietnam is now considered one of the most dynamic emerging countries in East Asia and one of the greatest development success stories of our time.

Vietnam’s economic development over the last 30 plus years since Doi Moi, in 1986, has been quite remarkable with an average income per capita per year increase from US$ 200 in 1986 to US$ 2,800 in 2018 and the poverty rates reduced from 70% in 1996 to below 6% in 2019. GDP growth exceeded 7% in both 2018 and 2019, one of the fastest in the region and globally. GDP was projected at close to 7% for 2020 but due to the impact of COVID-19, the first-quarter GDP fell to 3.8% and the World Bank recently revised their GDP growth projection to 4.9% for 2020.

The liveweight pig price in Vietnam is now 76,000 – 81,000vnd/kg in the North; 77,000 – 82,000 vnd/kg in the centre and 78,000 – 82,000 vnd/kg in the South. The average will be around 79,000vnd/kg. The pig price has gone down mainly due to the vegetarian month in Vietnam and it is expected to bounce back.

According to the Department of Livestock Production, during the first 6 months of 2020 pig inventory decreased by 6% compared with the same period of last year. According to Mrs. Nguyen Dang Vang, Chairman of Animal Husbandry Association of Vietnam: currently, pork accounts for 70% of total meat consumed daily by the Vietnamese and ranked 7th in the world in regards to per capita pork consumption.

In the context of competitive integration in the market, this requires meat food hygiene and safety to ensure consumers’ health protection, and confidence. The value chain production results were evaluated and are an important solution for modern industry development and sustainable husbandry in Vietnam.

The output of industrial animal feed in the first 6 months of 2020 was 9.5 million tons (a decrease of 5.4% compared to the same period in 2019) of which 3.96 million tons used in the swine industry – a 25.0% reduction compared to the same period last lear. At the same time, feed destined for poultry production reached 5.04 million tons in 2020, an increase of 16.5% compared with the same period last year. (source: Vietnamese Department of Livestock Production)

During the first 6 months of 2020 Vietnams’ import of swine breeding stock increased by 32.6 times compared to the same period in 2019. The cost of pigs purchased for finishing is 48,412 VND or US$ 2.08 per live kg for feeder pigs and 70,999 VND or US$ 3.06 for weaned piglets weighing around 7kgs. (source: Vietnamese Department of Livestock Production)

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