Pig farming race of Vietnamese tycoons

(Dan Tri) - The pig farming market has quite a lot of potential, in the context of increasing Vietnamese consumption. "Big guys" such as Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Thaco or Hoa Phat have all joined the race to conquer this industry.

Potential industry, lots of attraction

Vietnam will rank 4th in the top 10 largest pork consuming countries in the world in 2024, according to a report by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ( Ministry of Agriculture and Environment ). This year, Vietnam's total pork output reached 8.1 million tons, up 3.5% over the same period last year.

Vietnam's pork consumption has also been on an upward trend in recent years. If in 2021, each person consumed about 30kg/year, by 2024, the figure exceeded 37kg/year, an increase of about 23%. People's demand for pork is increasing, and in 2024, it ranked 4th in the world .

Pork prices in 2024 and the first months of this year have also improved significantly. BaF Vietnam Agriculture Joint Stock Company (stock code: BAF) stated that in 2024, domestic pork prices had recovered strongly, remaining around VND70,000/kg, an increase of about 30% compared to the previous year.

The reason comes from the short-term supply shortage, the impact of African swine fever in 2023, making herd restoration take more time, along with the recovery of domestic purchasing power.

Faced with industry opportunities, many large enterprises and corporations have invested heavily in pig farming.

Truong Hai Group (Thaco) develops the pig farming industry at its subsidiary - Thaco Agri Company, providing breeding pigs, piglets for meat and pigs for meat. The farms are located in Binh Dinh, An Giang, Dak Lak with a scale of hundreds and thousands of hectares. According to the plan, this year, Thaco Agri will sell more than 394,000 commercial pigs, more than 465,000 piglets for meat and more than 12,200 breeding pigs.

Thaco Agri's pigs for meat (Photo: Thaco Agri).

Pig farming is also one of the main businesses of the "steel king" - Hoa Phat Group Joint Stock Company (stock code: HPG). The 2024 report said that this enterprise owns nearly 25,000 sows, the output of finished pigs exceeded the set plan.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group also entered the pig farming sector in 2000, after the joy that "couldn't sleep" of Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc (Mr. Duc) - Chairman of the company - when he discovered that pigs ate bananas. Possessing a closed farming chain, even using discarded bananas to feed pigs, Mr. Duc is confident that this livestock sector has good profit performance. Currently, Hoang Anh Gia Lai still considers pig farming and fruit trees as its main industry.

Meanwhile, BaF Vietnam Agriculture Joint Stock Company (stock code: BAF) with the brand "vegetarian pigs" competing directly with Bau Duc's "banana-eating pigs" is also striving to set many goals to conquer the market. After strategic cooperation with Muyuan Livestock - Food Group, the company hopes to expand its scale to 450,000 sows and 10 million pigs by 2030.

Going through the "storm", finding growth opportunities

Besides advantages, many businesses say the livestock industry still faces challenges such as competition with smuggled meat from countries with lower prices, potential disease risks and limitations in livestock technology...

There were times when the livestock industry faced many difficulties related to epidemics and disruptions in the supply chain of raw materials, causing pork prices to fluctuate, businesses to face difficulties and have to adjust their strategies.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai Company revealed that in 2023, when pork prices dropped, the group stopped raising pigs to focus on capital for planting and caring for banana and durian gardens. When the pork market stabilized, Hoang Anh Gia Lai restored its herd and plans to continue to develop its pig herd according to farm capacity.

Therefore, in 2024, the total output of all types of pigs sold will only reach 181,400 heads, with revenue of VND 1,004 billion, accounting for more than 17% of Hoang Anh Gia Lai's total revenue. Pig sales revenue decreased by 49% compared to the previous year, with gross profit margin reaching 8.6%.

On the contrary, Dabaco Group Joint Stock Company (stock code: DBC) and many other enterprises recorded positive results from 2024 to the first quarter of this year. Dabaco raises breeding pigs and pigs for meat with many farm systems concentrated in the northern provinces. In addition, the company produces animal feed, raises poultry (breeding chickens, egg-laying chickens), processes products from meat, chicken eggs, cooking oil, etc.

In 2024, net revenue reached nearly VND 13,574 billion, up 22%; profit after tax reached VND 769 billion, nearly 31 times higher than the previous year. The positive situation continued into the first quarter of this year when net revenue reached VND 3,609 billion, up 11% over the same period last year. Profit after tax reached VND 508 billion, 7 times higher than the same period.

The company explained that the reason for the growth was that the epidemic situation in livestock and poultry herds was under control, and that farmers and the company itself had stepped up herd restoration. The price of live pigs in the first quarter of the year was higher than the same period last year, boosting profits. In addition, some areas in the group also improved well, such as the vegetable oil segment, helping profits increase sharply.

Meanwhile, Masan MEATLife Joint Stock Company (stock code: MML) - the operator of a system of pig and chicken farms and slaughterhouses and processing complexes - saw its first-quarter revenue increase by 20% to VND2,070 billion. After-tax profit was nearly VND116 billion, a sharp improvement compared to the loss of more than VND47 billion in the same period last year.

The company said revenue increased thanks to increases in the chilled meat, processed meat and farm segments. Production costs were controlled to the maximum, contributing to increased gross profit.

Also growing strongly in 2024, BaF Vietnam Agriculture Joint Stock Company (stock code: BAF) achieved a profit after tax of nearly 319 billion VND, 11 times higher than the previous year. The output of pigs sold reached more than 554,000, an increase of nearly 92% compared to the previous year. The total pig herd by the end of this year increased significantly, up about 41%.

Continuing this momentum, in the first quarter of this year, BaF Vietnam's after-tax profit increased by 13% to VND133 billion. The company said that the profit increased due to the price of pigs in the first quarter reaching over VND70,000/kg. Pig production reached over 160,000 pigs, an increase of about 60% compared to the same period last year. The price of raw materials for animal feed production was also stable.

In addition, in the same period last year, the company recorded the sale of a land plot on Mai Chi Tho Street (HCMC). In the first quarter of this year, profits were entirely contributed by livestock farming activities, in line with the planned restructuring orientation.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/cuoc-dua-chan-nuoi-lon-cua-cac-dai-gia-viet-20250601082213567.htm