November 19, 2012

The Vietnam Poultry Association in the East Southern region has suggested that the government permits local companies to import solely whole chickens to improve domestic production.

Currently, Vietnam imposes 20% import tax for chicken products such as legs, wings, and other parts, and 40% import tariff for whole chickens. Due to low import tax, prices of imported chicken parts are very cheap, making locally-produced chicken uncompetitive in comparison, the association said.

Stopping imports of chicken parts will help local farmers recover their productions, the association said.

Due to high production costs, frequent reoccurrence of bird flu and fierce competition from imported chickens, numerous Vietnamese poultry farmers have had to scale down or close their production to avoid losses.

Chicken parts are mostly imported from countries where they are considered by-products and are sold at cheap prices.

In the first ten months of this year, the country imported 56,000 tonnes of meat, mostly chicken, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said earlier.