Representatives of the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Mercantile Exchange of Vietnam signed a cooperation agreement to set up a pork trading floor in HCM City. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Mercantile Exchange of Vietnam (MXV) signed on Monday a cooperation agreement to set up a pork trading floor in HCM City.

Under the cooperation agreement, they will study, develop and operate the pork trading floor in the form of spot trading contracts and futures contracts.

The trading floor will be formed and developed based on MXV’s infrastructure, including a trading system, payment system, clearing centre, freight forwarding centre, and the provision of market information and transaction of all types of contracts in accordance with international standards.

Nguyễn Nguyên Phương, deputy director of the city Department of Industry and Trade, said the city is the largest pork consumption market in the country, consuming more than 10,000 pigs a day worth up to US$500 million a year. But pork usually goes through many intermediaries to reach customers, causing high prices.

The exchange floor will help address obstacles in the pork market, including unconsistent quality, manual slaughtering of pigs,  poor governance of farming activities, simple pork sales activities and dependence on intermediaries, thereby raising customers’ confidence in the safety of pork on the market, he said.

Nguyễn Ngọc Quỳnh, MXV’s deputy general director, said the pork trading floor will bring great benefit to society as well as all the participants.

Farmers know the needs and market demand to have a proper production and business plan; pork traders are provided with buying and selling tools in a modern and efficient manner. Consumers will be able to buy clean and safe food at prices without intermediary costs.

Nguyễn Ngọc Hòa, former deputy director of the Department of Industry and Trade, and Chairman of the HCM City Union of Business Associations, said, "HCM City has many favourable conditions to set up a pork trading floor. Specifically, the city has a programme to trace the origin of the pork, two wholesale markets for pork trading (Hóc Môn and Bình Điền), and modern distribution systems. The city is also home to large-scale pig farms and slaughter houses."

"Once the trading floor established, prices will be publicized on it, and everyone who is eligible to trade can participate."

However, in order to run it effectively, a synchronous coordination between relevant agencies is needed, he said. — VNS