VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has made great inroads into the global dairy industry and currently exports dairy products to over 29 foreign markets, one of the few nations in Asia exporting dairy products.

According to the latest official statistics, Vietnamese dairy products are rapidly expanding in the domestic market, experiencing an annual on-year growth rate of 12% in urban areas and 20% in rural areas.

Leading market analysts report Vietnamese milk products are meeting with the expectations of consumers for nutritional quality and variety thanks to supermarket shelves stocked with a wide array of choices from fresh milk, powder milk, condensed milk, to yogurt for children.

Statistics also show over the past decade, Vietnamese per capita milk consumption has steadily been on the uptick, averaging 17% per annum, and in 2013 was 18 litres per person.

A typical consumer, Ms Le Thi Thu in Nghia Tan, who resides in Cau Giay district says her family often consumes local dairy products thanks to their high quality, reasonable price and a variety of flavours.

From a nation which was virtually dependent on imports of dairy products just a few short years ago, the Vietnamese dairy industry has exploded, burgeoning to a global thriving industry exporting dairy products to 28 nations and territories.

Virtually overnight Vietnamese dairy products are becoming a household brand name throughout the world.

Official statistics show in 2013, Vietnamese milk exports jumped up an astonishing 28% to reach an all time record high of US$230 million.  The success in the industry is largely attributable to huge investments in modern equipment and technologies and a lot of hard work by labour forces.

Until now, Vietnam has had a herd of just over 200,000 stock cows with good varieties. The application of modern technologies in producing cattle feed has contributed significantly to improving the overall quality of finished milk.

Many domestic companies are now expanding investment abroad. Specifically, Hoang Anh Gia Lai group and Nutifood recently signed cooperative agreements to carry out a cow breeding complex and a milk processing factory construction project in Laos.

In late 2013, Vinamilk signed a deal to invest US$7 million to acquire Driftwood Dairy Inc, in the US State of California. The move is a strategically calculated attempt to break into the lucrative US market with its over 300 million consumers.

The Vietnamese dairy industry’s status in the international arena also received a much deserved boost recently, when Vinamilk became the only dairy business to ever have received the prestigious Canadian IUFost 2014 Global Food Industry Awards.

Bui Thi Huong, Executive Director of Vinamilk said the accolade, proves Vinamilk’s liquid dairy products stature in the world is on the rise, meeting the demanding expectations of consumers in both the domestic and global marketplace.

Last year, the entire Vietnamese dairy sector grossed export revenues of US$230 million, of which Vinamilk’s milk exports accounted for US$210 million. This unequivocally affirms the prestige of Vietnamese milk products and their penetration of international markets, Huong said.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Milk Factory is investing in a new domestic facility spanning an area of 20 hectares with a design capacity of 800 million of litres per year and the Vietnam Children’s Powdered Milk Factory is constructing a dairy processing plant with a design capacity of 54,000 tonnes of powdered milk per year.

Additionally, the sector plans to enlarge the number of modernised dairy farms on a much grander scale, increasing the number of milk cows to 240,000 by 2015 and 400,000 by 2020.

Hoang Kim Giao, Vice President of the Vietnam Dairy Association said Vietnamese milk’s brands are beginning to be recognised around the world.

In addition, he points out the need to continue building state-of-the-art hi-tech farms and transfer knowledge to the smaller household farmers.  If this is effectively carried out, he believes the dairy industry will be ensured sustainability and a decidedly reputable brand position in foreign markets.

VOV/VNN