VietNamNet Bridge – Australian beef has been flooding supermarkets. In the first 10 months of 2013, the import chicken and pork increased by three folds over 2012.

According to the HCM City Sub-department of Animal Health, the agency verifies some 2,000 tons of import frozen meat a week before the products are launched to the market. Poultry meat proves to be the biggest import item, with 1,000 tons imported every week.

Le Van Quyet, the owner of a fowl farm in Dong Nai district, noted that the domestic market has been flooded with cheap imports.

Refused chicken has been imported to Vietnam from South Korea, China and Thailand at very low prices. Chicken legs and wings from the US and Brazil have also come in Vietnam in large quantities, because Americans and Brazilians only eat chicken breast. Besides, chicken can also be sourced from China.

Nguyen Van Ngoc, Deputy Chair of the Southeast Livestock Association, said he cannot understand why the imports can be cheaper than domestic products.

The animal feed in Vietnam is 10 percent higher than in other countries, but other expenses, including the management cost, labor cost, electricity and water, are all lower. Meanwhile, domestic products do not bear the import tariff.

Therefore, Ngoc thinks that imports have been sold at below the production costs in Vietnam.

In principle, it takes two kilos of bran to generate one kilo of chicken. Besides, farmers also have to pay for electricity and water bills, medicine, transport cost. Why can the import meat be so cheap at less than $1 per kilo?

The cheap imports have made the domestic products’ prices decrease sharply. Ngoc said farmers now incur the loss of VND10,000-12,000 per kilo of chicken. The chicken price has dropped from VND38,000 per kilo in mid October to VND26,000 per kilo.

A report showed that 32,500 Australian cows have been imported to Vietnam so far this year. Every day, 4,000 cows, which are brought across the border gates from Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, is consumed in Vietnam.

Analysts said that though Australian cows have to undergo strict tests to ensure the food hygiene, Australian beef is still very competitive in prices if compared with Vietnamese beef, because Australian cows are heavier (600 kilos vs. 250kilos) and give higher percentage of meat (55-60 percent vs. 50 percent).

Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises tend to import cows for slaughtering domestically instead of frozen beef to optimize their profit.

Australian beef has hit the shelves at a lot of supermarkets - Maximark, Vinatex, Satramark, Saigon Supermarket, Lotte, Saigon Coop.

Saigon Coop said 50 percent of the beef products available at its retail chain is Australian. The products have been supplied by Vissan, which import from Australia and slaughter in Vietnam, and from Trung Dong Company.

Since 2010, the import tariff on the Australian cows imported to ASEAN countries has reduced to 5 percent, which has paved the way for more Australian beef to enter Vietnam.

Analysts have noted that the big imports would crush the Vietnamese husbandry. In 2007, Vietnam had 6.7 million cows, while the figure dropped to 5.2 million 2012.

Phuoc Ha