Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Due to the poorcompetitiveness of livestock products, Vietnam’s breeding industry will besignificantly impacted by the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-PacificPartnership (CPTPP), according to experts.
Pork, beef and milk are the products set to be the mostinfluenced by the trade deal.
According to former head of the Department of AnimalHusbandry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development(MARD) Hoang Thanh Van, although many efforts have been made to improve quality,Vietnamese livestock products still have to struggle to compete withimported products.
When the CPTPP takes effect, beef and milk products from Australia and NewZealand, and pork and chicken from Canada are forecast to enter Vietnam market inlarge volume. This could change consumption trends in Vietnam, causing aneffect on the domestic livestock sector.
Another barrier to Vietnam’s livestock sector is thatproduction still depends on imported materials, especially those for producing animalfeed and breeding animals.
Vietnam imports breeding cows from Australia and swansfrom France,wheat from Russia, Australia and Canada, and corn fromArgentine and Brazil.
The MARD said the import value of animal feed and materials reached 3.2 billionUSD in the first 10 months of 2018, up 17.4 percent against the same periodlast year. Meanwhile, export value of livestock products reached only 455million USD.
The CPTPP also includes strict regulations on disease-safe lifestock areas. Themost demanding markets such as Japan, Chile and Singapore are applying stricttechnical barriers for imported livestock products.
Vietnam has only50 areas (at the district level) and 1,092 livestock production units with diseasesafety certificates, below the country’s target.
However, experts said the CPTPP would also bringopportunities to the sector.
It will help enhance the management capacity of domestic firms, thus improvingcompetitiveness for their products.
Vietnam will become more attractive to foreign investors, especially those operatingin the livestock industry. Many domestic and foreign firms are seeking toinvest in the field.
Experts said the sector insiders should pay attention to developing products notsubject to high competition, while building long-term strategies for thesector.
They suggested the expansion of linked chain breeding models to enhanceconnections among enterprises, farms and cooperatives to make origin tracingeasy and to encourage enterprises to apply high technologies in the industry.
Firms have been advised to seek more markets for livestock products.
Vietnam currently exports processed chicken to Japan, frozenpork to Malaysia and salted duck eggs and quail eggs to Singaporeand Australia. However, the turnover of these products is limited.-VNA
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