Big money has been poured into the livestock industry in recent years

Foreign exporters met in Hanoi last November to attend Food & Hotel meeting, hoping to find the right way to enter the Vietnamese meat market in anticipation of CPTPP and EVFTA trade agreement ratification.

Big money has been poured into the livestock industry in recent years. However, only some suppliers provide products that meet international standards.

Reports show that though food hygiene has improved recently, the number of samples with E.Coli and Salmonella indicators are higher than permitted levels.

In an effort to improve the quality of farm products, the Ministry of Science & Technology (MST) last October released Decision No 3087 on national standards for chilled meat. 

To date, no production establishment in Vietnam can produce chilled meat products that can satisfy requirements stipulated in the decision.

Nguyen Nhu Tiep from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said at a recent press conference that the quality of meat, especially pork, still cannot satisfy requirements on food hygiene.

Vietnam has standards on fresh and salty meat products, but it has no standard applied in the world market.

Foreign exporters, who understand the demand of Vietnam’s market and the problems of Vietnam’s livestock industry, are seeking opportunities to penetrate the market.

Ryan’s Grocery, the first company which brought Australian lamb meat, beef and pork to Singapore, is looking for distributors in Vietnam.

Wendy Foo, director of Ryan’s Grocery, said Vietnam is a market with potential which can be seen in the high number of Vietnamese customers buying Ryan’s Grocery’s meat in Singapore.

She noted that Vietnamese consumers are seeking high-quality farmed products, and Ryan’s Grocery wants to enter Vietnam under the franchise mode.

Vietnam, a large market with 94 million consumers, has imported a large amount of pork from Spain. 

The increasingly high demand, especially after Vietnam decided to exempt tax on Spanish beef for three years, has turned Vietnam into a destination for Spanish beef supplier, according to José Ramón Godoy from Provacuno.

Provacuno found that in 2011-2017, Vietnam’s beef production increased by 6.3 percent, while consumption rose by 28.6 percent, which shows that demand is higher than supply. Spain is the biggest beef producer in Europe.

An advertisement campaign that invites Vietnam to try Spanish beef is being implemented. Exporters plan to boost similar activities in the next three years to importers, distributors and hotels in Vietnam. They have also prepared four preliminary treatment workshops for the campaign.

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