Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) recently proposed the import of about 35,000 tons of frozen meat until Lunar New Year 2012, even though meat prices nationwide have dropped by 25-33 percent.
During the first nine months of the year, the country imported 85,249 tons of frozen meat, mostly poultry, an increase of 4.5 percent over the same period last year.
The increase in the price of pork and chicken in the domestic market, earlier this year, created an advantage for importers to ship large volumes of meat at higher profits.
Meanwhile, the Veterinary Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development informed that around 110.5 tons of pork is exported to China every day.
Diep Kinh Tan, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said that it is not practical to export pork meat to other countries since pork meat is scarce and cannot even meet domestic demands.
He also added that currently farmers sell chicken to traders at VND30,000 per kilogram, but consumers buy chicken from supermarkets at VND100,000 per kilogram!
