August 7, 2006

US beef gaining popularity in Vietnam
 

WTO membership would allow US beef exporters greater access to the Vietnamese market, a representative of a US beef distributor in Ho Chi Minh City said last week.

Nguyen Hue, manager of Golden Garden Co. Ltd., a US beef distributor, said that their US beef imports are targeted at the city's well-heeled citizens, hotels, restaurants and foreigners working in the city.

US beef is in demand because of its quality and hygiene safety standards, she said. Moreover, foot and mouth disease and recent revelations that numerous butchers have been selling buffalo meat illegally has pushed consumers towards imported beef.

According to the trade agreement, the tax on US beef exported to Vietnam would fall from 20 percent to 8 percent over the next four years.

The above reasons are why US chilled beef is particularly popular in Vietnam despite its premium prices. A kilogramme of US beef can be four times as costly as its Vietnamese counterpart. 

The high price of US beef, geared towards the high-income, thus pose little competition for local producers, beef importers said.

According to Ministry of Trade's provisional statistics, Vietnam imported US$1mil worth of US beef last year, which was nearly double the amount imported in 2003.