VietNamNet Bridge – Beef imports have been increasing sharply in recent months to satisfy the increasingly high demand. The cow husbandry in Vietnam, which has been facing big difficulties over the last few years, is not in the bigger danger.

Since early 2013, Vietnamese consumers can buy fresh beef imported from Australia at supermarkets and foods shops instead of frozen products. Especially, the imports’ prices are very “reasonable,” just equal to domestic products’ prices thanks to the preferential import tariff.

The Trung Dong Company Ltd has reportedly imported more than 15,000 cows which would be slaughtered in Vietnam and distributed to big supermarkets, such as Big C, Co-op Mart or Lotte, and hotels, restaurants and food shops.

According to Truong Thi Dong, Director of Trung Dong Company, Australian beef products are priced at 10-15 percent higher than domestic products.

Though it is very costly to set up the farms and slaughtering factories which can meet Australian standards, more and more enterprises import Australian beef to Vietnam because of the attractive profits.

According to the Veterinary Authority Region 6, the imports to Vietnam were moderate before 2012. However, the imports soared in the first nine months of 2013 with 32,500 cows imported.

The figure only showed the imports through the official channel. Meanwhile, Australian cows have been brought to Vietnam through other ways as well.

Analysts believe that Vietnamese enterprises have begun importing cows in anticipation of the Trans Pacific Strategic Partnership (TPP) agreement, expected to be signed by the end of the year and take effects in 2014.

The domestic beef demand is increasingly high, while the supply has been decreasing over the last many years. The beef products available on the market now are sourced from Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, brought to Vietnam across the border gates. It is estimated that 4,000 cows cross the border lines every day to enter Vietnam.

In such conditions, consuming Australian beef proves to be a much better solution. Nguyen Xuan Binh, Director of the Veterinary Authority Region 6, said Australia is the country with the developed husbandry, while Australian cows bear fewer diseases.

Also according to Binh, Australian cows are exported only after getting the certificates granted by the country’s veterinary authorities. When entering Vietnam, blood samples would be taken to find if they suffer the diseases which can be passed to humans.

Dr. Nguyen Dang Vang, Chair of the Vietnam Livestock Association, commented that the high imports are the result of the weak domestic husbandry industry.

Vang believes that the current policies cannot encourage the cow farming. Beef products account for 23 percent of the total meat consumed in the world, while the figure is modest at 7 percent in Vietnam.

Also according to Vang, Australian imports are very competitive in prices thanks to the large scale production, while the farming in Vietnam remains in small scale. It is estimated that Australian live cows are priced at VND58,000 per kilo after tax. Meanwhile, the production cost in Vietnam is VND60,000 per kilo.

A report of the General Statistics Office showed that Vietnam now has 5.1 million cows, down by 3.16 percent over the same period of the last year.

Thanh Chi