The Vietnam Poultry Association said there are signs of trade fraud in chicken leg imports from the U.S. as it is sold at below local prices. 

The information was provided by Tran Duy Khanh, vice chairman and general secretary of the association, at a seminar on the prospect of Vietnam’s agricultural sector in Hanoi on September 16.

Khanh said after the public had voiced concern over cheap U.S. chicken legs on the domestic market, the association worked with the General Department of Customs to collect data on chicken imports from the U.S. in January-July.

The association met the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to verify the data and the department confirmed that the U.S. Department of Agriculture only granted quarantine certificates for chicken legs meeting quality standards.

The association also reached the U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council (USPEEC) to check all related information. According to USPEEC, the lowest price of chicken legs shipped to Vietnam was US$0.9 per kilo, or VND20,160. Therefore, it is impossible for U.S. chicken legs to be sold at VND20,000 per kilo at small markets in  Dong Nai Province and HCMC if an import tax of 20% and transport cost were included.

Bird flu hit 13 states in the U.S. from late 2014 to early this year, so many countries stopped importing American chicken products. Besides, when frozen chicken expires, U.S. enterprises must destroy it in front of authorities.

However, cheap U.S. chicken legs were still available on the local market, showing Vietnamese importers and U.S. exporters might have cheated to bring expired chicken to Vietnam, Khanh said.

“This is trade fraud,” Khanh said.

Khanh said the General Department of Customs refused to name the importers of U.S. chicken legs as requested by the association. He doubted that the customs agency might have helped importers commit trade fraud.

Khanh called on competent agencies to look into the situation to prevent trade fraud as Vietnam imports around 100,000 tons of chicken a year.

In addition, American consumers prefer chicken breasts, so chicken legs and wings are exported at very low prices.

According to Khanh, the association recently organized a meeting with representatives of livestock companies in Long An Province and will hold a similar event in Hanoi before suggesting measures for the Government to tighten controls in the livestock sector and prevent trade fraud.