HCM City to monitor pork prices The HCM City Department of Industry and Trade has promised to prevent any scarcity of pork or sudden price surges, saying the pork market would be steady. According to the department, the price of pig on the hoof reached VND48,000-51,000 per kilo last month, 40 per cent up year-on-year. Last year pig prices had plummeted, causing losses to most farmers, who reacted by reducing their breeding activities, and the resultant low supply pushed up prices, it said. To ensure adequate supply of essential goods, including meat, in the city, the department regularly inspects the market. According to Nguyen Huynh Trang, the department’s deputy director, businesses taking part in the city’s price stabilisation programme have increased supply and sell at 5-10 per cent below market prices. But following the relentless increase in pork prices since April the city has reviewed and agreed for them to increase pork prices once each in April, May and June. In … [Read more...] about BUSINESS IN BRIEF 26/6
Munich trade fairs
Social News 15/1
Small-scale coffee farmer gets helping handLò Thị Phong from Chiềng Chung Commune in Mai Sơn District in the mountain province of Sơn La, has cultivated coffee for more than 10 years on 5,000 square metres of land, but she still finds life difficult.A decade seems long enough to improve farmining practices by trial-and-error, however, according to the middle-aged Thái woman, “even now, we still cannot keep proper financial accounts”.During discussions hosted by CARE International last week, stakeholders in the mountain coffee industry touched on deeper obstacles facing the industry.CARE has worked in Việt Nam since 1989, concentrating on supporting rights and sustainable development among vulnerable groups, particularly remote ethnic communities, poor women and girls and people vulnerable to climate change.Nguyễn Vĩnh Đức, deputy director of the Sơn La branch of the Minh Tiến Coffee Export Joint Stock … [Read more...] about Social News 15/1