'From only 9,000 VND you can buy a bottle labeled as bird's nest'

Businesses participate in the seminar "Removing obstacles to develop the bird's nest industry brand" - Photo: TT

On April 12, at a discussion with the theme of Removing obstacles to develop the bird's nest industry brand organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper, many businesses expressed their frustration with the "matrix" of counterfeit goods in the bird's nest industry. Thereby, many solutions were proposed for this industry.

Online channels are "hot spots" for distributing fake bird's nests?

According to Mr. Hai, the market is witnessing an outbreak of many products named "bird's nest" but are actually fake, counterfeit, poor quality and of unknown origin.

"Due to the psychology of preferring cheap goods and taking advantage of the habit of loving cheap prices, some bird's nest jar products are sold for only 9,000 - 15,000 VND/jar. This price is completely disproportionate to the real value of bird's nest," Mr. Hai emphasized.

Fake bird's nests made from cheap ingredients such as agar powder, egg whites, etc. Or canned or bottled bird's nests that imitate the designs and names of reputable brands have caused serious confusion for consumers.

In addition, according to Mr. Hai, online distribution channels such as e-commerce platforms, social networks, livestreams, etc. have put products up for sale with almost no control; information on packaging often lacks transparency, bird's nest content is arbitrarily announced, without inspection or certification from authorities.

From early 2025 until now, Khanh Hoa Salanganes Nest Company has discovered more than 30 units counterfeiting the company's brand.

Meanwhile, Mr. Luong Tan Loi - Director of Vietnam Ginseng Joint Stock Company - Tra My Quang Nam (specializing in trading ginseng products, including Ngoc Linh ginseng bird's nest) - shared that when participating in a recent fair, he realized that every province has bird's nest products.

"When visiting a booth with an Indonesian partner displaying 'real bird's nest', this made the partner wonder about the existence of fake bird's nest in the Vietnamese market," said Mr. Loi.

Many solutions are needed for the bird's nest industry.

Dr. Tran Quang Thang - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Economics and Management - assessed that the total output of Vietnamese bird's nest is currently estimated at 500 million USD, but still faces many challenges.

Specifically, bird nest farms operate spontaneously, not complying with planning; bird nest products are mainly exported in raw form, with low economic value; no attention is paid to brand building; lack of close linkage between stages... reduces overall economic efficiency.

From these challenges, Mr. Thang proposed a number of solutions such as planning bird breeding areas, unifying the licensing process and recognizing bird nest breeding facilities as other construction works on land use right certificates; tracing the origin of bird nest products...

According to Mr. Hai, the solution to the problem of fake bird's nests is to perfect the legal framework related to quality declaration, traceability, and strictly handle violations to protect consumer rights and maintain the reputation of the Vietnamese bird's nest industry.

Mr. Ta Dinh Vu Dam, deputy general director of Nha Trang Salanganes Nest Joint Stock Company, said that the company had difficulty in obtaining confirmation of the location of the birdhouse from local authorities when exporting goods to China.

Mr. Dam added: "Regulations on plant quarantine for bird's nest houses, testing and monitoring of raw bird's nests or product standards... increase product costs and reduce competitiveness in the export market. Many Chinese partners want to cooperate, but they often ask why they should choose Vietnamese bird's nests when the price of Indonesian bird's nests is more competitive."

The solution this business proposed is to have a strategy to orient the bird's nest industry to become a national specialty; unify quality standards; and register for trademark protection in key markets such as China, the US, and the EU to avoid the risk of impersonation...

At the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Huu Hoai Phu, Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment - Ho Chi Minh City approved Project No. 90 on developing the bird's nest farming industry and proposed to make bird's nest a key product of the city in the near future.

Bird's nest export about 5 billion USD/year

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said that up to now, 42/63 provinces and cities nationwide have raised swiftlets, with the current number of swiftlet houses being 23,665. Swiftlet nests are a high-value export item, with an estimated annual revenue of over 5 billion USD and a total output of about 2,800 tons, of which China is the largest consumer market.

According to this ministry, bird's nest products are included in the orientation for livestock development 2021-2030, vision 2045 of the agricultural sector.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chi-tu-9-000-dong-co-the-mua-mot-lo-gan-mac-yen-sao-20250412150614626.htm