The Japanese pork is proving popular in the Vietnamese market

In the first five months of this year, Vietnam imported more than 70,000 tonnes of pork from abroad.

Most imported pork products are cheaper than local alternatives. However, Japanese-imported pork products are around 4-5 times higher than domestic options.

At many shops, a kilo of Japanese-originated pork is priced at between VND950,000-1.1 million (USD41.32-47.82) per kilo, depending on different kinds.

The majority of Japanese-imported pork is belly parts.

Hoang Thi Chung, who works at a shop which specialises in selling Japanese pork, said that her shop has been supplying this kind of meat for nearly one year. Each day, the shop sells around 40-50 kilos.

Bui Manh Tuan, a Japanese pork trader, said that the product is even sold better than Spain’s Iberico pork. Every day, he can receive online orders of nearly 100 kilos in total with most of the customers from HCM City.

The Japanese pork is often cut into small pieces of around 250-300 grammes for customers to buy conveniently.

Vietnam has also imported a large number of pigs from Thailand to increase the number of livestock and domestic supply.

With these measures, the country is expected to ensure pork demand in the local market by the end of the third quarter of this year.