Beef price expected to fall after climbing to record high

Beef price expected to fall after climbing to record high

Beef and buffalo meat trading in Vientiane markets has dropped off considerably recently since the price of these two meats rose sharply a few months ago and has remained high since then.

The price of these meats is expected to fall slightly this month as the number of consumers has dropped, Vientiane State Food Stuff Enterprise Director, Mr Khamla Sengdara, told Vientiane Times yesterday.

“Prices for these two meats rose t o between 60,000-70,000 kip per kg at the beginning of the year. This meant many people opted to buy pork, fish and chicken instead because they were much cheaper,” he said.

“The abattoirs are processing fewer animals for markets because the orders from beef traders are much smaller than before.”

This situation is likely to force traders to lower their prices in order to persuade people to start buying beef again.

With the wet season on the way, farmers will also find it easy to catch frogs and grow vegetables, which people don't need to pay a lot of money for.

Mr Khamla said people still require buy beef and buffalo meat when hosting important events and some supplies go to restaurants to make dishes such as grilled beef and laap .

“However, if we compare the price of beef in neighbouring countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and China, the price here is really quite low,” he said.

He explained that the rise in the price of beef and buffalo meat this year was not so high when compared to other products such as goat meat. Last year goat sold for 20,000 kip per kg but this year doubled to about 40,000 kip while the price of beef rose from 45,000-50,000 kip to 60,000-70,000 kip.

“Other meat products have also gone up considerably this year, with some having also doubled in price,” Mr Khamla said.

The main reason behind the increase in the price of beef and buffalo meat is that most farmers are still breeding their livestock using traditional methods and they cannot supply sufficient animals when there is a high demand.

Because of the increasing number of development projects and investment by domestic and foreign companies, the demand for beef for their workers' consumption has also risen, while some animals are sold to neighbouring countries.

To ensure a sufficient supply for the domestic market, the government last month called a temporary halt to the export of buffaloes and cattle, to be enforced by local industry and commerce sectors.

What is important now is for the government to encourage farmers to raise sufficient livestock to meet market demand and domestic consumption requirements by helping farmers with funding, breeding and rearing and giving other technical assistance.

In the past, the government has issued loans to farmers for livestock breeding but they are still not yet able to fulfil market demand.

vientiane times