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Cheap foreign food dueling with clean domestic food
Vietnam has imported 12-13,000 tonnes of meat so far this year, mostly frozen chicken legs from Brazil, Mexico and the US. The imports, which are much cheaper than local products, have become a popular choice of many customers, but they are threatening the local breeding industry.
Vietnamese customers like by-products
According to Tran Thanh Son, Deputy Director of the Animal Husbandry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), local chicken, pork and beef now have to compete fiercely with imports. The products favoured by Vietnamese customers, like chicken legs and wings, in other countries are considered by-products. Therefore, they have very low import prices, $1.1-1.2/kg – very competitive compared to local products.
Son said Vietnam has imported 12-13,000 tonnes of meat so far this year, mostly frozen chicken legs from Brazil, Mexico and the US. Imports have become the choice of many Vietnamese housewives thanks to their low prices and safety.
Nguyen Thai Dung, Deputy General Director of Big C supermart chain, said that imported cattle and poultry-made products now account for 30-40% of the total food sales of the supermart. Beef imported from the US and New Zealand is more expensive than domestic products because of its superior quality, while poultry products are cheaper.
Son from MARD said that the quality of domestic products remains low as there is not strict control over the breeding, slaughtering and circulation processes. Meanwhile, local breeding farms now have to deal with serious epidemics, including bird flu and blue-ear in pigs.
Regarding the possibility of exporting poultry and cattle meat, Son said that Vietnamese products do not have certificates of food safety so it is nearly impossible to export products to other countries, which always set high requirements on imports. In fact, luxury hotels in Vietnam also import food from other countries instead of using food from local sources.
Clean products unsalable
Son said that MARD has promulgated regulations on epidemic-free areas, and set four standards on safe breeding applied to pigs and milk cows.
However, Son said, the problem lies in the fact that Vietnamese consumers do not really care much about using clean products. Clean chicken and pork have been selling very slowly due to the 15-20% higher prices compared to normal products. Most customers still purchase normal products. It is understandable why customers prefer imports, which are safer and cheaper.
“The most important thing now is to change the way of breeding. If we cannot control the quality of breeds, feed and epidemics, we will never have clean products,” Son said.
MARD has proposed amending the Land Law, suggesting a land fund be reserved for husbandry. In the long term, the government also needs to assist breeding farms in environmental treatment.
VNN
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