Vietnam sow herd still 25% below pre-AVP level

Not only China, but also Vietnam is busy rebuilding the domestic pig herd that was largely devastated by the African swine fever (ASF). The sow herd is still about 25% below pre-AVP level.

The virus struck Vietnam in February 2019 and has since resulted in the loss of approximately 6 million pigs. The herd of sows in particular has fallen sharply. Beforehand, the country had almost 4 million sows and this number stagnated to 2,7 million.

The import requirement of pork was therefore significantly higher and also many live pigs were imported. According to customs figures, approximately 2020 breeding sows and 41.000 other pigs were imported in 300.000.

Free from AVP in 2025
The Vietnamese sow herd has now grown and there are again more than 3 million sows. The total number of pigs at the end of 2020 was about 26,17 million heads, which is approximately 85% of pre-AVP level. The country aims to have more than 90% of the country free of the virus by next year. In 2025 they want to be completely free of AVP.

Vaccin
An official vaccine for the deadly swine virus is still missing, but Vietnam's deputy agriculture minister says it is developing a vaccine and producing it in the third quarter of 2021. In their own words, the vaccine trials to date have only yielded positive results.

However, this is not the first time that it has been claimed that a vaccine for ASF is well underway. Several countries are busy with investigations, but so far without success. Illegal vaccines are doing the rounds in China, but that also brings with it a number of problems. Recently, outbreaks of the virus have been reported. However, this turned out not to be the original AVP virus, but a new variant that may have been caused by illegal vaccines.

Chanti Oussoren

Editor at Boerenbusiness who studies the dairy, pig (meat) and feed markets.

c.oussoren@boerenbusiness. Nl

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