Thailand denies ASF rumors
Pig price in Thailand plunged 15% in the last two weeks of May 2021, from THB 80/ kg ($ 2.6) to THB 68/ kg ($ 2.2). The price plunge was a result of Vietnam’s ban on live pig imports from Thailand and forced closure of wet markets across the country to avoid mass gatherings that could spread Covid-19.
Vietnam imposed the ban at the end of May after its local livestock authorities found 980 pigs shipped to the border from Thailand infected with ASF.
Even so, the Director-General of Thailand’s Department of Livestock Development (DLD), Sorawit Thanito, denied that the country was hit by ASF. He promptly instructed border checkpoints to conduct a test for ASF on every consignment of pigs that are destined for Vietnam.
Apart from the ban, slow demand for pork in the country mainly due to closures of wet markets and suspension of dining in restaurants and bars also affects the price of live pigs.
In the long-term, however, it is expected that the price would soon recover and make a new high in months to come. Fearing the spread of ASF, numerous pig farms in Thailand are liquidating their sows and shipping them out to Myanmar.
Introducing gilts or piglets to the farms can be hardly implemented at the moment. The DLD is taking tight control of the movements of pigs to minimize risks from ASF. Farms at origin and destinations have to prove that they are free from the virus through testing blood samples and surface swabs. The test has to be conducted only by DLD’s own laboratories. It is estimated that nearly half of Thailand’s one million sows have been made redundant.
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