Thailand will raise 12% fewer pigs this year, livestock department says

Thailand’s livestock department says farmers will probably raise 11.8% fewer pigs this year. Already, male pig breeders have dropped 41.1%, while female breeders have dropped 11%. The department general said this is because of economic conditions during the pandemic, and also farmers not having too many pigs in case of disease outbreaks.

There are 107,000 pig raisers in the country, the department general says. 70% of pigs in Thailand are raised on large and medium-sized farms, but there are more small farms than there are large or medium-sized. The general said most of the pigs that disappeared this year came from small farms. Right now, farmers are raising a total of 10.8 million pigs.

This news comes in the wake of ever surging pork prices in Thailand, with a shortage caused by an outbreak of the African Swine Fever on pig farms. Even though the Ministry of Commerce suspended live pig exports to protect supply, it will be hard to find enough healthy breeding pigs to meet market demand. Thais usually consume around 18 million pigs a year. In an interview with the Bangkok Post, the general of livestock said the situation will take 8 to 12 months to solve because local piglets have to be at least six months old before they can be slaughtered. Last year in June, the number of pigs available in the market already went down from 20 million to 15 million.

Skyrocketing meat prices have even driven some Thais to eat crocodile meat instead, and the demand for crocodile meat has doubled.

Source: Bangkok Post | Bangkok Post