US chicken thighs will be sued for dumping in Vietnam

The Southeast Livestock Association has sent a petition to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture... requesting an anti-dumping investigation into US chicken thighs.

Unusually low prices

According to the Southeast Association (Association), recently, this agency sent people to the US to collect data on the selling price of chicken and chicken products (thighs, wings, breasts...) sold in the US market. Accordingly, whole chickens in US supermarkets cost an average of 200,000 VND/kg, but when exported to Vietnam, the selling price is only 60,000-70,000 VND/chicken. Similarly, chicken thighs in the US sell for 60,000-70,000 VND/kg, but when exported to Vietnam, the selling price is 20,000 VND/kg... This unit believes that there is an unusual difference.

Imported meat not only increases in quantity and variety, but also has a cheaper price year after year. For example, the average price of chicken thigh quarters imported from the US was 1.2-1.5 USD/kg two years ago, but in the first months of this year it was only 0.6-0.8 USD/kg.

In addition, in previous years, Vietnam imported very little pork, but this year, this type of meat has appeared on the market, with a price of less than 60,000 VND/kg; ground chicken is about more than 10,000 VND (0.5 USD).

In terms of competitive advantage, the livestock industry of other countries is larger than Vietnam in terms of scale and breeds, but cannot be higher in terms of labor costs, technical level, feed and other costs. "The current cost of raising live pigs in Vietnam is about 36,000 - 38,000 VND/kg; white chicken is about 26,000 VND/kg. If we assume that other countries raise 10% cheaper, then the price of imported meat in our country cannot be half that price," the Association representative calculated.

Mr. Le Van Quyet, Vice President of the Southeast Livestock Association, raised the question of why chickens have to travel halfway around the world, including freezing, transportation, preservation, import taxes, etc., but the price in Vietnam is only 1/5 of the price in the US. While many importers explain that the prices of some products such as legs, wings, by-products, etc. are cheap because American consumers do not eat them, it is clear that they still sell these products in their supermarkets and food stores.

“... Americans don't eat chicken thighs, so why are they selling chicken thighs?”, Mr. Quyet questioned.

The Association's leaders also raised the possibility that the goods have problems with quality, expiry date, or are being sold at dumping prices to strangle the Vietnamese livestock industry.

According to the Association's calculations, the Southeast region has about 3,000 concentrated chicken farms, with a total investment capital of 6,000 - 8,000 billion VND. Most farm owners have borrowed money from banks and are in bad debt because of continuous losses in raising chickens. With about 8 million industrial chickens being released to the market each month, farmers in the Southeast region are suffering a loss of 80 - 90 billion VND. This loss has lasted for the past 6 months and has reached 500 billion VND.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Kha, a large farm owner in Dong Nai, said that last year, Vietnam imported about 80,000 - 90,000 tons of poultry, and in the first 6 months of this year, more than 50,000 tons were imported, an increase of 20%. The average import price last year was 27,000 - 28,000 VND/kg, now it is 17,000 VND. "The more you import, the cheaper the price is, which is very unusual," said Mr. Kha.

Mr. Le Manh Cuong, owner of a farm in Tan Phu (Dong Nai), said that in 2013-2014, the price of industrial chicken was 25,000-27,000 VND/kg, and at times it was up to 37,000 VND/kg. But since 2015, the price has only been 22,000-23,000 VND/kg and has remained so far. Although the farms have been linked between the unit providing the breed, feed, and the slaughterhouse, processing, and have reduced the cost by 15%, the farms still have to sell below the cost price of 4,000-5,000 VND/kg.

“The management agencies need to take measures to protect domestic farmers, as things are now, farmers cannot survive,” said Mr. Cuong.

Imported meat problem?

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phuong, in charge of livestock farming at Emives Company, said that the amount of imported chickens averages 6,000 tons/month, equivalent to about 3 million whole chickens, accounting for over 30% of domestic production. With the current low import price, the domestic livestock industry cannot survive.

Ms. Dieu Hoa, representative of Koyu&Unitek enterprise, also said that the retail price of American chicken imported to Vietnam at 20,000 VND/kg is definitely unusual.

Ms. Hoa calculated the current wholesale price of imported American chickens, which is about 17,000-18,000 VND/kg: If we deduct the freezing fee (2,000-3,000 VND/chicken), the price of chicken is only 15,000 VND/kg, and if we deduct the transportation fee, import tax, preservation fee... from the US to Vietnam, the cost of American chicken meat is only under 10,000 VND/kg. This price is cheaper than 1 kg of chicken feed, so there is definitely a problem with this chicken meat.

Some livestock businesses said that many US chicken exporters also have extremely attractive promotional policies for Vietnamese importers: for every 17 containers imported, they will receive one free container.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ngoc, Vice President of the Association, hypothesized that some countries use free-range chickens as fertilizer and animal feed. Is this meat source being brought to Vietnam? If this happens, the rights of consumers are being neglected.

On the other hand, in the US recently there have been many areas with poultry diseases, farmers do not eat, will the price of that meat be reduced to bring back to Vietnam? In addition, there is another hypothesis, that they used to export to Russia, Eastern Europe... but now it is banned, they have to transport it back and dump it into Vietnam.

Many businesses in the livestock industry share the same view that currently the management agency does not have enough necessary technical barriers to prevent imported meat sources, and the quality of imported meat is lax. The domestic livestock industry is dying, leading to a series of consequences for jobs.

According to Vietnamnet.vn