According to Nguyen Van Trong, DeputyGeneral Director of the Crop Production Department, the swift nest industry hasdeveloped strongly in Southeast Asian countries, especially Malaysia,Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand.
In Vietnam, swifts are bred in 42provinces and cities and nearly 68 tonnes of nests are produced annually andincreasing.
They are exported to many countriesand territories including Hong Kong, China, the US, Australia, and New Zealandfor 100-125 million USD annually.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture andRural Development Tran Thanh Nam said the swift nest industry offered higheconomic value.
“According to local andinternational experts, Vietnam’s bird’s nests have very high quality. China hashuge demand for bird’s nests. Many large Chinese enterprises want to findlong-term Vietnamese suppliers. This offers opportunities to Vietnamese firms,”he said.
Zhang Yaqin, President of theGuangdong Birds’ Nest Industry Association, said China was the largest marketfor edible bird’s nest.
Imports that received certificatesfrom the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine (CAIQ) and with traceableorigins went up from 3.09 tonnes in 2014 to 84 tonnes in just the first 10months of last year.
Trong said the industry offered higheconomic value but its development had been unplanned. "There is no masterplan for the industry, and businesses do not pay much attention to developingbrands for their products," he said.
"Vietnamese businesses mainlyexport bird’s nest in raw material, earning low revenues," he added.
Tran Phuong Tuan, Deputy Chairman ofthe Vietnamese Swiftlet Farming Association, said companies had not invested inprocessing to improve quality or add value.
At a forum on improving bird’s nestquality in line with market demand, Tuan and other delegates urged the Ministryof Agriculture and Rural Development to soonframe regulations for quality and makezoning plans for the industry.
According to YiNing Luo, vicepresident of the China Medical Pharmaceutical Materials Association’s bird’snest branch, and president of the Southeast Edible Bird Nest Capital (Xiamen)Industrial Development Co., Ltd., China has very strict regulations onimporting bird’s nest, especially unprocessed.
Most Vietnamese bird’s nest productswere imported to China through unofficial channels that when it strengthenedinspections, the bird’s nest industries in both countries were affected, hesaid.
Therefore, the two countries neededto sign a protocol for official import of bird’s nest products from Vietnamto China, he said.
He said his company, whichspecialises in processing raw bird’s nest, would continue to help promoteofficial exports from Vietnam to China.
At the forum, the Vietnam Bird’sNest Promotion and Market Development Group Corporation was launched and itsigned an agreement with Southeast Edible Bird Nest Capital (Xiamen) IndustrialDevelopment Co., Ltd to export bird’s nests to China.-VNA