Widening the way for Dak Lak bird's nest to reach far

08:10, 11/07/2023

The Protocol on quarantine, inspection and veterinary hygiene requirements for bird nests exported from Vietnam to China has come into effect, opening up great market opportunities for localities raising bird nests. To take advantage of the opportunity, over the past year, bird nest production and trading enterprises in the province have also prepared for official customs clearance shipments when Vietnam completes the required documents.

Quality positioning

Dak Lak is considered a locality with very favorable natural conditions, suitable for developing bird's nest farming areas, the quality of bird's nest products is as high as that of island bird's nests and Central bird's nests. However, the commercial bird's nest farming profession has only appeared in Dak Lak for more than 10 years, but has developed very strongly, bringing high profits to bird's nest house owners.

According to data from localities, the whole province has more than 1,000 households raising swiftlets, with about 1,300 swiftlet houses spread across districts, towns and cities, concentrated in Buon Ma Thuot city, districts: Ea Kar, Ea Sup, Krong Pac...

Currently, Dak Lak leads the Central Highlands provinces in the number of bird's nest houses and is in the top 10 provinces with the largest number of bird's nest houses in the country. The estimated bird's nest output is 10 - 12 tons/year, accounting for about 6.6% of the country's bird's nest output, the highest output in the Central and Central Highlands regions.

According to the assessment of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the majority of birdhouse owners are equipped with knowledge and proactively focus on investing in applying science and technology to the process of construction, attraction, operation and exploitation. In addition to enterprises, many birdhouses have also participated in linkage chains inside and outside the province to increase product value and stabilize output.

Bird's nest processing at Thanh Dung Bird's Nest Import Export Joint Stock Company.

Currently, there are some enterprises building brands for Dak Lak bird's nest products, typically the Thanh Dung bird's nest brand (Krong Pac district). This is a fairly early bird's nest farming enterprise in the province, with many products, such as: refined bird's nest, jarred bird's nest, freeze-dried bird's nest yogurt... According to Ms. Pham Thi Phuong Dung, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Thanh Dung Bird's Nest Import-Export Joint Stock Company, the potential for developing the bird's nest farming profession in Dak Lak is very large. In particular, the quality of Dak Lak's bird's nest is only second to island bird's nest, with a fragrant aroma and chewy, fragrant bird's nest fibers. For a long time, the unit's products have also been trusted by many Chinese customers and are mainly sold through unofficial channels.

Ready for customs clearance shipments

After nearly 5 years of efforts to exchange and negotiate, the Protocol on quarantine, inspection and veterinary hygiene requirements for bird's nests exported from Vietnam to China was signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and the General Administration of Customs of China, effective from November 9, 2022. This is an important condition for Vietnamese bird's nest products to have a sustainable output in the Chinese market and it is expected that the export turnover of this item will increase in the near future.

Dak Lak bird's nest products are sold at a store in Krong Pac district.

Mr. Vu Duc Con, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that immediately after the Protocol took effect, the Department proactively sent staff to participate in conferences and seminars organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. At the same time, it propagated and disseminated the contents of the Protocol; coordinated with the Dak Lak Salanganes Nest Association to organize a workshop: "Guidelines for food hygiene and safety of bird's nests and bird's nest refining - Effective bird's nest house operation process - Veterinary hygiene of bird's nest houses". In addition, a number of bird's nest production enterprises in the province have implemented and completed the conditions for registering to build identification codes, producing products according to the traceability chain, meeting standards aimed at serving exports. The Department has assigned the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine to coordinate with the Veterinary Medicine Department of Region V (under the Department of Animal Health) to organize many sampling sessions to monitor epidemics at bird's nest houses in Dak Lak province in the chain of large enterprises in this field to serve exports. In addition, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is coordinating with the Department of Planning and Investment to complete the process to propose the Provincial People's Committee to consider the policy of building a "Project to develop the bird's nest industry in Dak Lak province".

Meanwhile, according to Ms. Pham Thi Phuong Dung, after receiving information that Vietnamese bird's nests were officially exported to the Chinese market, the company immediately started building product profiles. The company is currently cooperating with more than 40 bird's nest houses in Krong Pac district and some other localities, with an output of about 6 tons/year to prepare supply for the market. Up to now, Thanh Dung Bird's Nest is one of 4 Vietnamese enterprises that are officially exporting bird's nests to the Chinese market; the company is preparing to package products for export.

Currently, China is the world's largest consumer of bird's nests, importing over 2,000 tons each year, accounting for 80% of the global market share. When bird's nests are officially exported, the value will increase 7-8 times, bringing in large export turnover for the province. Accordingly, in order to have a shipment that meets the regulations of the import market, the Dak Lak Bird's Nest Association has counted the quantity and information of bird's nest houses to issue identification codes and manage bird's nest houses; linked up with a number of enterprises in the supply chain related to exports, bringing a number of member bird's nest houses into the bird's nest export chain to the Chinese market. Up to this point, Dak Lak's enterprises have fully prepared the conditions, waiting for the authorities to inspect and evaluate to bring Dak Lak bird's nest products into the billion-people market by a major route.

According to the Department of Animal Health, China accepts the import of pre-processed bird's nest products, treated at a temperature of 70oC. The products must meet 16 regulations. If they do not meet the requirements of the Protocol, they will be detained, processed, returned or destroyed by the General Administration of Customs of China.

Minh Thuan

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