November 21, 2012

Vietnam may increase meat importation to meet rising demand during the lunar New Year next year, according to Nguyen Thanh Son, Deputy Director of the Livestock Department.

"As chicken consumption will surge during the Thet, we may need to increase the volume of chicken imports," he said. Over the next few months, he said locally produced meat would amount to 240,00-250,000 tonnes per month and imported chicken at about 40,000 tonnes per month. Local poultry producers fear that existing supply will be insufficient as some broiler integrators have cut production by their contract growers from five crops per year to only two crops per year. "Poultry production in Dong Nai has dropped by 30% from last year," said Pham Duc Binh, Chairman of Thanh Binh Feedmill, a feed manufacturer and poultry breeder based in Dong Nai.