[hepr-vn] Meat imports to be restricted

[Vern Weitzel]

http://www.vovnews.com.vn/?page=126&nid=76633

Updated, 09/21/2008, 10:00 GMT

Meat imports to be restricted

Vietnam has imported 118,000 tonnes of assorted meat in the past eight months 
and the figure is expected to reach 200,000 tonnes by the end of this year. 
Experts warn that if no measures are put in place to reduce imports, the 
domestic animal husbandry industry will probably die out.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Vietnam 
imported assorted meat worth US$321 million in the reviewed period, triple the 
amount for all of 2007. Most imported products were frozen cattle meat (buffalo, 
cow and sheep), chicken (drumsticks and wings) as well as pork and its internal 
organs (hearts, livers and kidneys).

Experts attribute the sharp increase in the import partly to a serious shortage 
of domestic supplies caused by the prolonged cold spell and the blue ear pig 
disease, which killed 200,000 buffaloes and cows and nearly 300,000 pigs early 
this year.

Another important reason is that Vietnam slashed import duties to levels lower 
than its WTO commitments slated for 2012. When joining the WTO in 2007, Vietnam 
was committed to reducing import duties on pig products from 30 percent to 25 
percent by 2012. However, the current import duty has already been lowered to 20 
percent. For chicken products, the import duty has been cut even further from 40 
percent to 12 percent.

Doan Xuan Truc, Director of the Management Board of the Vietnam Animal Husbandry 
Corporation, says that the import surplus has caused an imbalance in the 
domestic supply of cattle and poultry meat.

Normally, Vietnam imports poultry and cattle products, such as beef, for supply 
to restaurants and hotels. However, Mr Truc says, similar domestic products 
cannot compete against those high-quality and expensive imports. The country 
also imports by-products such as drumsticks, wings and legs of chickens and 
hearts and kidneys of pigs and buffaloes, which are not used by export 
countries. Due to low import duties, a kilogram of imported US chicken costs 
just VND14,700 in Vietnam which is much cheaper than that of domestically raised 
chicken.

Dr Nguyen Dang Vang, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Committee for 
Science, Technology and Environment, explains that Vietnam has lowered duties on 
the import of large quantities of poultry and cattle products with the aim of 
stabilising the domestic market and reining in inflation.

“Given the fact that the domestic market prices have been kept under control, 
the import should be restricted, otherwise, the domestic animal husbandry 
industry will die out in the long run,” warns Mr Vang.

He says that if the import surplus is maintained, about 1 million people will 
lose their jobs and 1.2 million children and elderly people in rural areas will 
fall into poverty. Once the gap between rich and poor is widened, it will lead 
to an increase in social instability.

“We have no choice but to raise the import duties to our committed levels and 
use technical barriers to protect domestic production,” says Mr Vang.

At a national conference in Hanoi on September 17, delegates shared the view 
that an import restriction is the best solution to keep the domestic animal 
husbandry industry alive.

However, MARD Deputy Minister Bui Ba Bong said that it is difficult to set up 
technical barriers because Vietnam’s farming practices remain poor compared to 
other countries, which have a developed husbandry industry and strict 
regulations on food hygiene and safety.