Export of livestock products: Still very modest

In the first 9 months of 2021, exports of livestock products grew by 15.2%

According to data from the Center for Informatics and Statistics (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) in the first nine months of 2021, export of livestock products reached $294.4 million, up 15.2% over the same period in 2020. .

In terms of commodities, the export of milk and dairy products reached US$87 million, which is the livestock export product with the largest turnover, up 20.9% over the same period in 2020. The group of increased export markets include Iraq, Cambodia, Philippines. Meanwhile, exports to the Chinese market decreased due to various reasons.

Enterprises propose functional units of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to inform businesses about demand as well as support negotiations to export chicken meat to other markets.

Export of meat and meat products reached $76 million, up 18.2% over the same period in 2020. Pork was the largest export meat product, reaching $22.8 million, up 32.6% over the same period in 2020. in which, 99.7% is frozen dairy pork with the only export market being Hong Kong. Animal meat products reached 21.6 million USD, up 46.2%, of which, exports to China accounted for 42.2% market share, up 214.0% over the same period in 2020; to Japan accounted for 36.0%, up 22.7%; to Hong Kong accounted for 15.2%, down 8.1%; to Papua New Guinea accounted for 3.6%, up 4.4%.

Poultry meat ranked third with 15.2 million USD in turnover, up 11.6%, of which, exports to Hong Kong accounted for 57.4% market share, up 21.9% over the same period in 2020; to China accounted for 20.5%, up 28.1%; to Korea accounted for 11.2%, up 899.0%; to Thailand accounted for 10.3%, up 4,838.2 %. Other meat products (buffalo meat, sheep and goat meat, slaughter by-products...) have negligible turnover.

For honey, exports in the first nine months of 2021 reached US$83 million, up 65.2% over the same period in 2020, of which 91% went to the US market.

Silk exports reached US$46 million, accounting for 13.9% of the export market share, up 87.1% over the same period in 2020. India is the main market, accounting for 90% of the market share. This is also the market that accounts for 90% of Vietnam's leather and feather exports. Export of all kinds of eggs also has growth.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan - Director of the Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development (MARD) - said that a positive signal is that the export of livestock products has grown in the past time despite the impact of Covid-19. 19. However, the diversification of export markets for livestock products is still modest. The reason is that there is a lack of disease-safe facilities according to the standards of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in general and importing countries in particular, so there are not many export markets and export items open. available, including staples in the group of key livestock products such as meat and eggs.

On the other hand, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, international circulation was congested, export costs increased, especially international transportation costs. The shortage of human resources, the increase in domestic production costs, etc. also directly affect the livestock production for export.

Particularly for the export of milk and dairy products to the Chinese market, the growth was not as expected when signing the Protocol on milk export to China, Nguyen Quoc Toan said, the cause was the Covid-19 pandemic. It not only reduces demand in China's domestic market, but also affects the circulation and cross-border transportation with China for Vietnamese dairy products.

Need to synchronize solutions

Experts say that our export of livestock products is still modest because our processing is still weak and lacking. According to the Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development, by the end of 2020, the whole country has 104 industrial-scale establishments and factories of meat, egg and dairy processing enterprises for export and service. domestic consumption, the rest is on a small scale. Among the industrial scale establishments, there are 64 factories and processed meat products of over 1.1 million tons, accounting for 19-20% of the total meat production in the country; 5 factories and the output of processed eggs is over 100 million eggs/year, accounting for about 0.7% of the total egg production in the country. Processed egg products are mainly salted eggs, egg powder, canned eggs; 35 milk processing factories, most of which have advanced technology,

Building disease-free facilities according to OIE standards is a prerequisite for exporting livestock products. However, Mr. Nguyen Van Long - Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Health - said that building disease-free areas and facilities in many localities has not been focused.

From a business perspective, Mr. Nguyen Quang Hieu - Deputy General Director in charge of sales of De Heus Co., Ltd. - said that in terms of developing export markets, businesses soon export chicken to Japan. Currently, the business also understands the huge demand for chicken in Japan, Korea and Singapore. Therefore, businesses recommend functional units of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development such as the Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development and the Department of Animal Health to inform businesses about their needs as well as support negotiations to export livestock products. farming in general and chicken in particular.

Meanwhile, some argue that the cost of animal feed accounts for 65% of the production cost of the livestock industry, while raw materials for feed production must be imported, increasing costs, making it difficult for products to compete. . The problem of the livestock industry is to reduce product costs, change breeding technology, improve breed quality, and raise farmers' level of breeding.

To export livestock products, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan said that an export strategy is needed. The agricultural sector needs to step up the development of identifiers with livestock areas, promote chain links between businesses, cooperatives, and farmer households.