With just over three months to go until the Lunar New Year of Bính Ngọ 2026, the time when demand for livestock and poultry meat surges the most during the year. In Ho Chi Minh City, the atmosphere of herd restocking and preparing supplies for the Tet market is becoming increasingly lively. From large-scale farms to small household operations, people are actively investing in restocking, though they still cannot avoid concerns over disease outbreaks and fluctuating input prices.
INCREASING HERDS TO WELCOME THE TET MARKET “WAVE”
In the first days of November, in Xuyên Mộc Commune, many livestock households have kicked off their Tet production cycle. Mr. Trần Thanh Bình’s family has just released 2,000 Tàu Vàng chicks — a native chicken breed known for its delicious meat and favored by consumers. Compared with other production cycles during the year, his Tet flock size has doubled.
Currently, the price of commercial chickens ranges from 90,000 to 95,000 VND/kg, and is expected to reach 100,000 VND/kg as Tet approaches. After deducting costs, each batch of 1,000 birds brings Mr. Bình about 30 million VND in profit; for this year’s Tet batch alone, if all goes well, he could earn nearly 60 million VND.
Mr. Bình said that thanks to the closed-loop livestock linkage from breeding stock to product consumption with a company in Đồng Nai, he feels secure about the outlet for his flock.
Similarly, Mr. Lý Trung Vân (Nghĩa Thành Commune) is also caring for more than 3,000 chickens in preparation for Tet — an increase of more than 2,500 birds compared with last year. According to him, at the end of the year, with erratic weather and high humidity that easily foster disease-causing agents, cleaning the barns, regularly disinfecting, and fully vaccinating are mandatory to ensure the chickens remain healthy and achieve good weight and meat quality.
CHALLENGES FROM DISEASE AND INPUT PRICES
Ho Chi Minh City currently supplies about 230 tons of poultry meat and 2 million eggs to the market each day. However, 65–70% of the supply still has to be imported from neighboring provinces, leaving the city highly exposed to risks when breeding stock prices, feed costs, and transportation expenses fluctuate.
According to Mr. Nguyễn Xuân Trung, Deputy Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Sub-Department of Livestock Production and Animal Health, restocking for Tet is an opportunity to recover production after a difficult period, but people need to restock in a planned manner and avoid following trends. If supply exceeds demand, the economic losses will fall on livestock farmers.
The city’s total poultry population currently stands at more than 18 million birds and is expected to rise to over 20 million by Tet. Increased demand for breeding stock has pushed seed prices up by 10–15% compared with the same period last year, creating significant pressure for small-scale households dependent on private sources of stock.
TOWARD SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION
To ensure a stable food supply during the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, Ho Chi Minh City’s agriculture sector is implementing a range of solutions:
Encouraging the development of high-tech farms, applying biosecure livestock models, and restocking at appropriate levels.
Signing product off-take agreements between distribution companies and certified farms.
Increasing frozen meat reserves to stabilize prices.
Tightening control over transport, slaughtering, and distribution to ensure veterinary hygiene and clear traceability.
In addition, many farms have invested in cooling systems, automatic disinfectant misting, and sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, and poultry health, helping minimize disease risks. The city is also promoting circular livestock models and treating waste with biological products, both protecting the environment and improving productivity.
CHAIN LINKAGE – THE FOUNDATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The city’s agriculture sector is promoting linkages among households, cooperatives, and enterprises to form a stable production-consumption chain, reduce the “bumper harvest, price slump” situation, and move toward building disease-safe livestock zones that will be eligible for export in the future.
Livestock farmers in Ho Chi Minh City are placing high hopes on this Tet season — not only because it is an opportunity to increase income, but also because it is a step toward affirming confidence in a modern, safe, and sustainable livestock industry. What they hope for most is a stable market, free of disease, so they can welcome a prosperous Tet after a year of hard work.
Article and photos: Hoàng Nhị (VNA)
