In their group letter sent to the prime minister and the National Assembly Chairman, the Vietnam Animal Husbandry Association, the Vietnam Animal Feed Association, the Vietnam Poultry Association, and the Vietnam Large Cattle Breeding Association, asked for a solution to properly control the imports of meat products.

"We're having to follow strict conditions to export our products while the country's lax import regulations have created conditions for the rampant imports of low-quality products," the letter said. "Last year, Vietnam only earned USD515,000 from meat exports but spent USD3.53 billion on meat imports. In addition, a large number of live animals and related products were illegally imported into the country, affecting the sale of local products and posing the threat of disease transmission."

According to the associations, lots of the imported products are near expiry dates and sold at half the prices of locally-made products, this has led to unfair competition with local products.

"Vietnam may see a big trade deficit in meat products in the next three to five years," the association warned.

Vietnam’s livestock industry set a production growth target of 4-5 percent in 2024 and is expected to make up 28-30 percent of the country’s agricultural production. Meat production is expected to reach about 7.98 million tonnes this year including over 4.87 million tonnes of pork and over 2.31 million tonnes of poultry meat.

Dtinews