Australian beef floods supermarkets
Instead of having to buy imported frozen beef, many consumers in Vietnam can now go to supermarkets and food stores to buy fresh Australian beef at the same price as domestic beef products.
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| 1,473 Australian cows have just been imported from Australia by Trung Dong Company Limited to Go Dau A port (Long Thanh, Dong Nai) - Photo: Dong Ha |
Beef importers and distributors say Australian beef is clean and of high quality, so consumers are increasingly favoring it. According to the Veterinary Agency of Region VI, in the first nine months of this year, Vietnam imported 32,500 live cows from Australia.
Supply cannot meet demand.
On the afternoon of October 8 at Go Dau port (Long Thanh, Dong Nai), the GL Lan Xiu ship with a capacity of over 1,000 tons docked, carrying 1,500 cows imported from Australia to Vietnam after more than a week at sea. After customs and quarantine checks, Australian cattle experts took turns bringing the 2m tall cows weighing up to 800kg down the ramp to trucks parked next to the ship to be transferred to the farm of Trung Dong Company Limited (Bien Hoa, Dong Nai).
Here, after receiving test results from veterinary agencies, these Australian cows are vaccinated against common diseases and quarantined for about 14 days before being slaughtered.
Ms. Truong Thi Dong, director of Trung Dong Company Limited, said that this is the 10th shipment of cows that the company has imported from Australia in nearly a year. All imported cows will be slaughtered, butchered and distributed by the company to major supermarkets such as Big C, Co.op Mart, Lotte..., restaurants, hotels, food stores and agents at retail markets across the country.
According to the business community, importing Australian beef is more profitable than beef from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand... even though the import process is complicated and must ensure requirements for raising and slaughtering according to Australian standards.
To be able to import, domestic businesses must build cattle pens and slaughterhouses according to Australian standards.
All these stages are supervised by Australian experts from start to finish. “Australia requires slaughterhouses to ensure humane slaughtering procedures, which means not causing panic or stress to the animals from transportation to slaughter.
If they do not fulfill their commitment, they will stop selling cows,” said Mr. Van Duc Muoi, General Director of Vissan Company. According to Ms. Truong Thi Dong, to import 1,500 cows, the cost is about 1.5 million USD, but investing in a barn and slaughterhouse system that meets Australian standards will cost double that amount.
Despite the initial investment difficulties, the potential for profit is high, so more and more units are participating in importing beef from Australia to Vietnam. After Trung Dong, there are now two other units in Long An and Hai Phong participating in this business field.
“After the initial period of market research, the demand for Australian beef from our partners has always exceeded our supply capacity. In the coming time, we will double the amount of imported beef, about 3,000 heads per month,” said Ms. Dong.
According to the business community, Vietnam's demand for beef is increasing while supply has barely increased in recent years. Domestic beef that Vietnamese consumers still use is mainly supplied from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand... with uncertain quality and quantity, so the price to consumers is very high.
To date, even supplies from Cambodia and Laos have become scarce. Not only that, according to Mr. Van Duc Muoi, beef imported from neighboring countries is often injected with water multiple times by traders to increase its weight, which does not ensure food hygiene and safety.
Meanwhile, according to Ms. Dong, Australian beef is available in any quantity, has stable prices, and is truly clean and affordable, which has changed the entire beef business in Vietnam.
After 35 years in the beef business, Ms. Dong believes that in the context of a shortage of beef from surrounding countries, if there were no imported Australian beef, the price of domestic beef would be much higher than it is now.
At beef retail stores and food stores in Ho Chi Minh City, fresh Australian beef is sold at quite "soft" prices such as lean thigh for 244,000 VND/kg, brisket for 180,000 VND/kg, flank for 135,000 VND/kg, tendon for 120,000 VND/kg, and beef shank for 225,000 VND/kg. The two most delicious and expensive types of beef are tenderloin and fillet, priced at 320,000 VND/kg, about 5% more expensive than domestic beef. Surveys at supermarkets and food stores in Ho Chi Minh City, sales staff said that Australian beef has now taken the place of domestic beef.
Ms. Nguyen Hoai Trang (a sales staff in District 3) said that two months ago, an acquaintance introduced her family to Australian beef slaughtered fresh in Vietnam, instead of imported frozen beef, so she tried it. "I like Australian beef because it is soft and sweet, and the price is the same as domestic beef. I just wonder how they can import beef from Australia and still keep it fresh," said Ms. Trang. Like Ms. Trang, many customers who go to supermarkets see more and more fresh Australian beef appearing, but do not know that to have this type of meat, companies import live beef from Australia to Vietnam for slaughter and processing. According to business people, Australian beef meets all requirements for clean and safe meat, so it is increasingly popular with consumers. "Since the source of beef imported from Australia, the entire Vissan system has stopped selling beef from Cambodia and Laos," said Mr. Van Duc Muoi.
* Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Dang Vang (Chairman of Vietnam Animal Husbandry Association): Lack of policy for beef cattle development Importing beef from abroad is an inevitable consequence because domestic supply is much lower than demand and Vietnam has no policy to develop this supply. The average rate of beef consumption in the world is currently 23% while in Vietnam the total amount of buffalo and cows only accounts for nearly 7% of the total amount of meat. According to Mr. Vang, imported beef from Australia has a very competitive price because they raise it on a large scale while cattle raising in Vietnam is small scale and the breed is of poor quality. According to calculations by the Livestock Association, the price of Australian beef imported to Vietnam, including tax, is 58,000 VND/kg (live cattle) while the cost of domestic beef is 60,000 VND/kg. Therefore, domestically raised beef has difficulty competing with imported beef. * Mr. Nguyen Xuan Binh (Director of Veterinary Agency Region VI): Australian cattle have less disease than domestic cattle. Australia is a country with a developed livestock industry and is a disease-free zone. Therefore, Australian cattle do not have common diseases in Vietnam such as foot-and-mouth disease. Once certified by the Australian veterinary agency, cattle imported to Vietnam only need to have their blood tested for diseases that can be transmitted to humans. On the contrary, due to concerns about domestic diseases spreading to Australian cattle, import companies must vaccinate them against common diseases in Vietnam after import. |
According to Tuoi Tre - TH
