Customers shop for pork at a supermarket in Hanoi. (Photo: VNA) Over the past two months of this year, the country spent 18.69million USD on importing over 8,400 tonnes of chilled or frozen pork, marking ayearly decline of 1% in value but 4.2% rise in volume, according to the GeneralDepartment of Vietnam Customs.
In the same period, the country imported 105,000 tonnes of meatand meat products, with a value of 213.2 million USD, up 44% in volume and 39%in value year-on-year, the department said.
India was the largest supplier of meat and meat products for Vietnam,accounting for nearly 30% of the country's total import volume. In the reviewedperiod, Vietnam's meat and meat product imports from India reached over 31,000tonnes, worth 94.62 million USD, surging 58% in volume and 73% in value overthe same period in 2023.
Meanwhile, Vietnam's imports of meat and meat products from mostmarkets increased over the last year's same period such as Poland, theNetherlands, Germany, Russia and Australia, the department noted.
The sharp increase in imports of all kinds of meat has createdenormous pressure on the domestic livestock industry. Recently, fourassociations issued warnings about super-cheap meat imports and smuggled meatproducts flooding into the domestic market, and at the same time proposing thePrime Minister to control imported meat.
They also petitioned the Prime Minister to direct departments andministries to urgently build technical barriers and trade policies to minimisethe official import of livestock products.
Top priorities should be given to strengthening quarantinemeasures, quality inspection and minimising the number of border gates allowedto import live livestock into Vietnam, they suggested.
In 2023, the pork consumption per capita in Vietnam amounted toabout 27.7 kilos per person, according to data and business intelligenceplatform Statista.
By 2029, the pork consumption per capita is forecasted to reachabout 32.72 kilos per person annually in the country, it said./.
VNA
