Swine industry faces difficulties due to the rampant illicit export of pigs from Thailand to Myanmar

The swine industry is in a difficult time, given what is happening in the region and the impact those developments caused, an industry leader said.

U Zaw Myo Tun, joint secretary from Myanmar Livestock Federation said that China decided to end imports from Vietnam, due to a territory dispute at sea, and Japan stopped the purchase of swine from Thailand for four months after discovering an infection involving swine-specific disease.

As the Vietnam swine market collapsed, Thai brokers bought the animals with low price, resulting in Thai swine farms being infected with the disease. As a consequence Japan stopped Thailand imports for a four-month period. But, pigs from Thailand are still being exported illegally to Myanmar.

The pork meat shipments have affected the domestic market.

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