According to the publication Tien Phong, in mid-July, the disease was detected on half of the current number of farms, and the number of pigs that died or were destroyed tripled — from 30,000 to over 100,000.
‘ASF has spread extremely widely, covering the entire country. This seriously affects pig farming and threatens the stability of pork supplies on the market,’ said Nguyen Xuan Ziong, chairman of the Vietnam Livestock Association. According to him, there is no province that remains safe from the virus.
ASF has been destabilising the global pork market for years. The worst situation was in 2018–2019, when China lost up to 50% of its pig population, incurring losses of more than $100 billion. Now a similar threat looms over Vietnam, the world's sixth largest pork producer, with a share of more than 4% of global production.
Back in July, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh issued an urgent directive to local authorities to strengthen biosecurity measures and respond immediately to outbreaks in order to avoid a collapse of the country's food supply.
Although Vietnam was the first country to officially begin commercial use of the ASF vaccine in 2023, mass vaccination did not take place. The reason is the high cost and doubts about the effectiveness of the drug.
‘Vaccination is only an auxiliary tool. It cannot replace basic prevention methods,’ Ziong emphasised.
The main vaccine manufacturer, AVAC Vietnam JSC, did not comment on the situation to Reuters. However, in June, the company reported that it had sold 3 million doses on the domestic market and exported another 600,000, including to the Philippines and Indonesia.
The situation with the spread of ASF in Vietnam remains unstable and uncontrolled, despite attempts at centralised management, the development of national safety standards and the introduction of innovations.
With no province protected and the number of animal deaths rising rapidly, the pig farming industry is at real risk of collapse. Potential consequences include pork shortages, rising prices and significant economic losses that could have an impact far beyond Vietnam, given its role in global exports.
Source: Bangkok Post