Chicken breeders complain about hefty losses

Chicken breeders in the southern region are facing great losses due to the oversupply.

According to chicken farm owners in Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces, broiler chicken prices dropped by VND18,000-20,000 per kilo compared to April. At present, one kilo of live broiler chicken is just VND10,000-14,000.

Broiler chicken sold at a market

Nguyen Dinh Long, an owner of a chicken farm in the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, said that if the situation continued, some farms would suffer from bankruptcy as the average breeding cost for one kilo of chicken is up to VND24,000-28,000 per kilo.

Bui Van Thanh in Dong Nai whose farm is home to 200,000 chickens said that he faces a loss of VND42,000 for every three kilos. He is selling around 20,000 per week, making a loss of VND600 million.

“Despite the huge losses, we have still tried to maintain the breeding after pouring big investment into this,” Thanh added.

Nguyen Van Ngoc, Vice Chairman of Southeastern Poultry Association, said that the chicken industry is witnessing the oversupply.

When the African swine fever happened, many people have turned into using chicken, instead of pigs. Meanwhile, chicken imports have increased, affecting local chicken breeders.

Doan Ngoc Tho, director of THO Group which specialises in poultry products, said one tonne of imported chicken into Vietnam is just around USD1,000, equal to around VND24,000 per kilo, including taxes.

The General Customs Department reported that in the first seven months of this year, Vietnam imported 142,190 tonnes of chicken worth a total USD120 million, up 10% on-year.

Pham Thi Ngoc Ha, general director of San Ha Ltd. Co., said that her company signed a contract to buy chickens of some farms for the distribution to supermarkets.

Pham Thi Huan, general director of Ba Huan Ltd. Co., said the chicken price decline has been attributed to the massive sale following storms and flooding and the prices would recover in the next ten years.