Pork products on shelves. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has founded a group to inspect the pork market to figure out problems that caused failures in cooling domestic pork prices. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Industry and Trade has founded a group to inspect the pork market which saw prices at high levels since the end of 2019 despite the Government’s effort to increase supply to make up for the drops caused by African swine fever.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Industry and Trade would coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Finance and the National Steering Committee for Combating Smuggling, Commercial Fraud and Counterfeit Goods to carry out inspections on all stages of the pork value chain, from production to distribution and from wholesale to retail sales.

The foundation of the inspection group was in response to the Prime Minister’s directive about evaluating the pork market to figure out problems or violations at different stages and to cut intermediary stages which pushed up pork prices as well as to develop an efficient distribution system.

As planned, the inspection group would work with pig husbandry enterprises which held large market shares, organisations and individuals participating in the distribution and supply of breeding pigs and live pigs to figure out whether they complied with the established regulations on competition and trade. Speculation, if found, would be tackled.

Live pork prices were around VNĐ90,000 (US$3.8) per kilogramme. Pork prices have remained at high levels since the end of 2019 despite the Government’s effort to increase supply through imports and promoting reproduction.

Since mid-June, the agriculture ministry allowed the import of pigs from Thailand in an effort to cool off domestic pork prices. — VNS