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Vietnam needs quotas for milk powder imports
Though an agricultural country, Vietnam’s fresh milk output meets just 1/5 of domestic demand, so the country has been relying heavily on milk powder imports. That explains why dairy product prices in Vietnam are the highest in the world.
Associate Prof Dr Nguyen Dang Vang, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly’s Science and Technology Committee, and former Director of the Animal Husbandry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said:
Every nation in the world has a demand for dairy products, including sterilised fresh milk. The quality of dairy products has to be high, but the prices of products have to be low enough to ensure that people, including children and poor students, can have milk.
In many countries in the world, like Japan and countries in Europe, children always drink sterilised fresh milk, as the countries apply a policy on developing herds of milk cows, which allows them to satisfy domestic demand with 100% of domestic sourced milk.
In the region, Taiwan only has a population of 23mil, but its fresh milk output is 885,000 tonnes a year, which means that every person has over 38kg of milk every year.
What about Vietnam? With 120,000 cows and 250,000 tonnes of fresh milk a year, Vietnamese people only have 2.9kg of fresh milk a year.
It is clear that the fresh milk output is too low. Vietnam now has to import milk powder to make liquid milk. 1kg of milk powder can make 8.3 litres of liquid milk. The 250,000 tonnes of material milk can meet only 21.5% of the demand for materials for production, while the other 80% needs to be fed by imports.
What do you think Vietnam needs to do to develop its herd of milk cows?
Two years ago, the Animal Husbandry Department suggested measures to develop herds of milk cows. However, in order to implement the measures, we need other comprehensive solutions, including policies on providing capital, husbandry techniques and land for farmers.
I think that it is necessary to intensify propaganda campaigns in order to help people understand more about the importance of sterilised fresh milk. We also need to have policies on stimulating the demand for fresh milk, for example, implementing milk programmes in schools.
Big cities should spend money on bringing sterilised fresh milk to schools, so that students can drink milk free of charge. The high demand will help stimulate the development of supply.
The state should set quotas on milk powder imports. For example, an enterprise that imports milk powder needs to declare how much fresh milk it will purchase from farmers. The high demand and the reasonable prices will help develop the country’s milk cow herd.
Currently, high animal feed prices and decreased fresh milk prices both discourage milk cow farming. We need to take drastic measures right now in order to expect to have domestic fresh milk output big enough to meet 40% of the demand in eight or 10 years.
What do you think the tax on milk powder imports should be in order to ensure profit for the husbandry industry and the benefits of consumers?
Vietnam now is a WTO member, which means that it has committed not to give direct support to farmers. However, the government still can assist farmers in the development of milk cow herds through agricultural encouragement programmes, training courses, and technology transfer. Regarding the import tax, I think the government needs to follow the committed tax rates: 20% on material milk and 30% on finished dairy products instead of 10-15% as currently applied.
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Don’t let farmers throw milk away
According to Nguyen Xuan Duong, Deputy Head of the Animal Husbandry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the biggest problem now for the animal husbandry industry is that consumers tend to turn their back on fresh milk, which has made farmers in the north miserable.
Duong said that the department last week gathered dairy producers to discuss measures to share difficulties in the current period, when consumers are rejecting dairy products due to the ‘melamine storm’. Dairy companies have been asked to purchase milk from farmers. The companies can owe money to farmers, but they must not let farmers throw milk away.
Meanwhile, a survey conducted in milk cow farming areas in the south, including HCM City and Long An province, showed that dairy companies still have the same policies on milk material purchase and milk prices.
Tran Van Bun, a farmer who has 10 milk cows in Duc Hoa district, Long An province, said that he can sell all the milk he has every day.
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