Poultry Breeding Expense No Paltry Matter
VIET NAM - Chicken breeding is booming across southern Vietnam, and the price of breeding hens is at a record high worldwide. Accordingly, many breeders and would-be breeders are struggling. The tens of thousands seeking to buy hens cannot necessarily afford the steep prices, and sometimes there are no birds to be had at all.
26 October 2007
3 minute read
"Nobody wants to leave their farms empty at this time because they’ve invested hundreds of millions of dong to build these farms. Yet buying hens at such high prices would leave us deep in debt."
Minh of Long Thanh District, Dong Nai Province.
Scarcer than gold
For over a week, Ngo Van Viet of Tan Thanh District, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, has been anxious. His plans to breed hens starting on October 22 ended once CP, a poultry dealer, told him they would not be able to supply the birds. CP backed out of the deal because Viet began using another brand of chicken feed. However, Viet said that both he and others had used that variety of feed before and had not encountered problems from CP. Thus, the market demand seems to have put supply companies in a unique position to make their own demands. Viet commented, "[The birds] are so scarce that the breeders have made difficulties."
Viet is not the only one with these problems; many households in the area have empty farms or diminished stock due to hen scarcity. Minh of Long Thanh District, Dong Nai Province, said, "Nobody wants to leave their farms empty at this time because they’ve invested hundreds of millions of dong to build these farms. Yet buying hens at such high prices would leave us deep in debt."
Minh said that historically, the price of hens from CP had never before risen to VND13,000 per newborn bird. He said the same was true of the Japfa at VND14,000.
