Imported beef in AEON Mall, Long Bien. Vietnam paid 410 million USD for imported beef in 2017 (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam paid 410 million USD for imported beeflast year due to increasing demand, according to the Ministry of Agricultureand Rural Development.
The ministry’s LivestockDepartment reported that Vietnam imported 262,321 live cattle and nearly 42,000 tonnes of meat(mainly beef with bone) worth a total of 410 million USD.
Meanwhile, the nation importedmore than 6,500 tonnes of pork worth a total of about 11.07 million USD, andmore than 81,000 tonnes of poultry, valued at more than 75.7 million USD.
The department said imported meatwas sold much cheaper than local produce. For example, United States andAustralian beef cost from 100,000-500,000 VND per kilo. Indian beef ranged from90,000-150,000 VND per kilo, while imported chicken prices ran from 35,000-60,000VND per kilo.
Deputy director of thedepartment, Tong Xuan Chinh, said Vietnam had an excess of pork. Productionreached 29.1 million tonnes in 2016, causing the pork price crisis of 2017. Thenation needs only about 27 million pigs to meet domestic demand, leaving asmall volume for export.
In term of poultry, Vietnamraised more than 385 million heads in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 6.6 percent.This amounted to more than 1 million tonnes of meat and more than 10 billioneggs. Domestic poultry output has met local demand and the gap between importsand exports is not large.
Chinh said Vietnam seriouslylacked red meat, mainly beef. The demand increased every year. The reasonsrelated to huge changes in food consumption. People nowadays prefer beef topork and chicken.
Therefore, in 2017, domesticdemand for beef had a year-on-year increase of 4-5 percent to about 260,000tonnes.
However, the local development ofcattle grew at only 1.6 percent and the total output of beef increased only 3.6percent. Domestic beef still meets 80 percent of domestic demand.
From 2014 to now, Vietnam has hadto spend more than 300 million USD a year to import live cattle and beef.
With the uptrend in beef, Chinhsaid Vietnam must have a more suitable strategy to farm cattle.
In 2017, Vietnam exported nearly40,720 tonnes of pork, earning 163.87 million USD; 22,600 tonnes of fresh milkand dairy products, earning 54.8 million USD; 37 million salted duck eggs (5.27million USD), 86,600 tonnes of honey (144.46 million USD) and more than 278,200tonnes of animal feed (106.48 million USD).-VNA
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