VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s (MARD) officials and cow importers have denied the fact that they are dumping in the domestic market and evading tax, saying that Australian beef is more expensive than domestic products.

Local newspapers, quoting domestic livestock associations, have reported that Australian beef is “suspiciously low”.

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 the past, Vietnam imported Australian frozen beef to sell on the domestic market at VND400,000-50,000 per kilo.

Since June 2013, Australian cows have been slaughtered in Vietnam with the Australian technology and under the Australian supervision. The selling prices of fresh meat are just equal to 50 percent of the prices in the past.

As a result, Australian frozen beef has become unsalable because of the high prices and the Vietnamese favor of fresh products over frozen products.

At present, Australian fresh beef is some VND10,000 per kilo more expensive than domestic products. However, it still has been selling very well because it is believed to meet the food hygiene standards.

According to Nguyen Van Dang, Chair of the Vietnam Livestock Association, a kilo of Australian live beef is VND58,000 per kilo, while the domestic products and the imports from neighboring countries have been sold at VND65,000 per kilo.

However, the retail prices of finished products are VND10-15 percent higher than domestic products.

The Gia Dinh Tourism and Service JSC in HCM City now offers on its website sieuthithitbo.vn 20 Australian beef products at the prices between VND95,000 and VND270,000 per kilo.

The same company also offers 12 Vietnamese beef products, priced at between VND50,000 and VND191,000 per kilo.

Importers have denied the information that Australia has interrupted the cow exports to Vietnam because of the suspicions relating to the dumping on the Vietnamese market.

They have confirmed that they still continue importing cows from Vietnam, but in smaller quantities because of the short supply.

Luu Son Thuy, Director of Thuy Ha Private Enterprise in Long An province, said the demand for Australian beef has been increasing sharply on the global market, not only in Vietnam. Therefore, the price has increased by cent40 per kilo of live meat.

Thuy said the contract signed between his company and the two Australian suppliers would get expired by the end of December. It is highly possible that the company would have to accept higher prices for the new contracts to be signed in January 2014.

According to the Sub-department of Animal Health Zone 6, Vietnam imported 40,288 Australian cows in the first 11 months of the year.

Dang has noted that Vietnam tends to import more from Australia to offset the decreases in the imports from Laos and Cambodia.

Thanh Mai