Poultry farming is more and more loss-making.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son - Chairman of the Poultry Association commented that the poultry product consumption market is extremely unstable, never before has there been a situation like the present one.

Animal feed prices cause many difficulties for businesses

According to Mr. Tong Xuan Chinh - Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), Vietnam is one of the countries with the largest poultry population in the world, and the second largest waterfowl population in the world. In the period from 2018 to 2022, the poultry population increased rapidly from 435.9 million to 557.3 million. The average growth rate is 6.3%/year.

In the first quarter of 2023, poultry farming nationwide developed steadily. The poultry flock is estimated at 551.4 million, up 2.4%; poultry meat output is estimated at 563.2 thousand tons, up 4.2%; eggs are estimated at 4.7 billion, up 4.5% over the same period in 2022.

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Mr. Tong Xuan Chinh said that in the first months of 2023, the price of white chicken varied between regions in the country, ranging from 17,000-35,000 VND/kg of live weight, the price of chicken in the North was higher than in the Central and Southern regions and depended on the time and region. The price of colored-feathered chicken meat raised industrially did not differ between regions.

In January 2023, the price remained at 39,000-43,000 VND/kg, decreased to 33,000 VND/kg in February and increased to 38,000 VND/kg in March; then decreased to 26,000-32,000 VND/kg in April. The price of colored-feathered broiler chickens ranged from 4,000-7,000 VND/chicken in April depending on the breed and the North was usually 1,000-2,000 VND/chicken higher than the South.

According to Mr. Chinh, the selling price of livestock products is currently lower than the cost price, due to high input materials and high production capacity. Meanwhile, in 2022, Vietnam imported nearly 34 million poultry breeds, so the poultry population increased rapidly in terms of head but consumption is limited.

The report of the Department of Animal Husbandry shows that the Covid-19 epidemic situation in humans in the country still has many potential risks and is showing signs of becoming complicated again. Notably, along with the maintenance of high prices of many input items, especially animal feed prices, it has caused many difficulties for businesses and livestock farmers when production costs increase.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son - Chairman of the Poultry Association commented that the poultry product consumption market is extremely unstable, never before has there been a situation like the current one. At many farms, industrial broiler chickens and colored chickens are raised past their due date, then left as laying hens. Many businesses and farms are at risk of bankruptcy, thousands of breeding facilities have had to reduce production scale, even temporarily suspend operations.

In the past 5 years, the annual output of imported chicken meat has increased continuously by over 15%/year, accounting for 20-25% of the total domestic chicken meat consumption. In addition to officially imported chicken meat products, every year, a large volume of discarded laying hens are imported illegally, even smuggled across the border (according to experts' estimates, about 200-250 thousand tons/year).

Strictly control the import of livestock products

According to Nguyen Thanh Son, the poultry industry, especially chicken farming, has developed too rapidly. Many large-scale investment projects have been licensed without being linked to export plans, while the import of frozen chicken meat has been increasing every year, leading to a situation where supply exceeds demand, putting great pressure on the domestic consumption market. As a result, both businesses and farmers have suffered losses in recent years.

Mr. Son said that in the next 5 years, localities need to tighten licensing of new, large-scale livestock investment projects. If those projects are not linked to the processing and export of livestock products, they should not be licensed.

In order to deal with the import of discarded chickens, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son suggested that relevant ministries and branches coordinate with industry associations to build strong enough technical barriers to imported meat, in order to create a healthy competitive environment for domestically produced products.

It can be said that compared to countries with developed livestock industries, our country's regulations on importing livestock products are still easygoing and loose. Meanwhile, to export poultry meat and eggs, we have to endure many strict technical barriers in importing countries, making our livestock products weak and disadvantaged right at home.

Currently, our country does not have specific regulations for imported meat products using Ractopamine and Cysteamine in 26 countries, namely: USA, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Korea, Thailand...

While in the country, farmers are prohibited from using the above two hormones for livestock and poultry. Therefore, it is also necessary to ban the import of meat products from countries that use Ractopamine and Cysteamine to create a healthy and equal competitive environment for domestic production and breeding enterprises.

"It is time to have non-tariff measures to protect domestic production, avoiding the situation of importing poultry products in deficit as in the past. It is recommended that ministries and branches should soon build technical barriers in a reasonable manner and in accordance with international practices," Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son shared.

In particular, there are currently many products used as animal feed such as feet, heads, necks, wings, gizzards of livestock and poultry, even livestock products containing banned substances, but are still smuggled into the Vietnamese market as food for humans. If this situation is not controlled, domestic production will be extremely unstable.

In addition, according to Mr. Son, it is necessary to strengthen control, focus on preventing, detecting and strictly handling cases of illegal transportation of animals and animal products across the border, including discarded laying hens, creating a safe border corridor to prevent disease outbreaks and put pressure on the domestic market. He proposed that the Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security to strengthen inspection and supervision of the smuggling of animals and animal products across the border.

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