A delegation of seven companies from Canada Pork International Association (CPI) has arrived in HCM City, starting their first visit to Vietnam to explore the pork market in the Southeast Asian country.
“Demand for pork is increasing in Vietnam and this is a good opportunity for Canadian pork processors,” said Martin Lavoie, the CPI deputy executive director, adding that Vietnamese importers, distributors, and deluxe hotels are CPI’s targeted customers.
Several months ago, the governments of Vietnam and Canada signed an agreement on animal quarantine, paving the way for the trading of animal meat.
In addition, Canada-sourced pork will more easily penetrate Vietnam’s market because Vietnam reduced tariffs from 30 per cent to 20 per cent on June 1, 2006.
The country will, within five years, also decrease taxes on imported beef and pork from 20 per cent to 14 per cent, and from 10 per cent to 7 per cent on imported cattle feed within two years.
“It is good news that Vietnam has signed an agreement with the US on joining the WTO, which means the tariff on pork will be further cut,” he said.
Canada is a big pork exporter in the world, holding 20 per cent of the market share. Canada-sourced pork has been selling well in Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, and China. Therefore, Canadian exporters will find it easier to penetrate Vietnam’s market.
In the immediate time, Canadian exporters will provide pork to food processing plants instead of retailing, which means that Canada-sourced pork will not compete directly with Vietnam-sourced pork on the domestic market.
In 2006, the country’s total meat output is estimated at 2.8 million tons, including 2.4 tons of pork and 350,000 tons of chicken.
The country is striving to increase the national herd by five million pigs, to 32.8 million by 2010, supplying 3.2 million tons of pigs on the hoof - an on-year increase of 754,000 tons.
The country also targets exporting 25,000-30,000 tons of pork per year in 2006-2010. (Vietnam Economic Times)
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