Hanoi (VNA) – Pork imports rocketed over the last two months as market demandsurges ahead the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, which is only a few weeks away, according to the Ministryof Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s Agency of Foreign Trade.

The Agency ofForeign Trade reported Vietnam imported over 15,000 tonnes of pork, worth 15.9million USD, in November, up 164 percent and 113 percent, respectively from thesame period last year.

In the first11 months of last year, the country spent 124 million USD on over 111,000 tonnes of pork imports, year-on-yearincreases of 97 percent and 108 percent, respectively. Most imported pork isfrozen and comes from the US, Germany, France and Poland.

The importedpork products are subject to multiple taxes and fees, including customs duties,5-percent Value Added Tax (VAT) and cold preservation fee, which add around33,000 – 35,000 VND (1.43 – 1.51 USD) to the cost of each kg of pork.

Vietnamcurrently imposes a 10-percent most-favoured-nation (MFN) import tariff onfrozen pork while that for fresh and chilled pork is 25 percent. For countriesthat signed a free trade agreement with Vietnam like Australia, New Zealand,Japan, Russia and Mexico, the rates range from 3 – 21 percent.

According tothe agency, the MoIT has inked bilateral agreements on animal quarantine with19 countries. Over 1,640 foreign firms have been granted permits to export porkproducts to Vietnam while about 140 domestic companies have been allowed toimport pork.

The ministryhas been accelerating communication campaigns to raise public awareness of porkprices and supply and to encourage people to shift to alternative products, inorder to stablise the market.

It has alsoworked with relevant ministries to come up with measures to ensure sufficientsupply of farming products, particularly pork, ahead of the holiday.

On the firstfew days of 2020, prices of live pigs dropped by about 1,000 – 2,000 VND per kg in the north where the productswere fetched at about 90,000 – 95,000 VND per kg, the highest in the country./.