Vietnamese specialties are ready to enter the world's leading markets

Nguyen Van Trong, Deputy Director of the Department of Livestock Production under the MARD said bird's nests had high economic value with more export opportunities than other livestock products. Therefore, this industry is included in the livestock development strategy.

According to statistics, 42 out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide have embarked on swiftlets farming with the number of about 20,000 swiftlet houses. In which, Kien Giang Province has the most, at about 2,600 houses. Vietnam’s swiftlet-farming output is about 120 tonnes, equivalent to US$450 million in value. CurrenBy, bird's nest products in Vietnam are mainly exported by local companies, earning about $100-125 million per year.

Similarly, Vietnam's durian product has many great opportunities to promote exports. In recent years, durian has been considered a billion-dollar tree in many localities. Talking to Customs News, Nguyen Quy Duong, Deputy Director of the Plant Protection Department (MARD), said Vietnam's durian was mostly exported to China. The Chinese love durian, consider it the king of fruits, and think eating durian can bring them luck.

In addition to bird's nest and durian, honey also has potential for Vietnam. Although the global economy was strongly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, honey exports had impressive growth. Data from the MARD showed that in the first 11 months of 2020, honey export reached $65.38 million, up 37% from the same period in 2019.

Nguyen Thanh Son, Chairman of the Vietnam Poultry Association said in 2020, due to the impact of the pandemic, consumption of livestock products had decreased significantly. Notably, although total export turnover of livestock reduced by more than 40%, the structure of export products had many changes and honey exports grew "sharply".

Ready to "release wings"

According to Nguyen Van Trong, in recent years, realising the great export potential, the MARD has promoted the export of bird’s nests to markets, including the negotiation to export to the Chinese market. Due to the impact of the pandemic, the negotiation was mainly via online meeting, and all preparations have been almost completed.

“Surveying the needs of a company in Fujian (China) showed that the current output of Vietnam’s exported swiftlets could meet a third of their needs only. Therefore, when the protocol of official export of swiftlets to China is signed, opportunities for this industry will be increasingly expanding,” said the leader of the Department of Livestock Production.

Talking more about the official export of swiftlets' nests to China, Nguyen Van Long, Deputy Director of Department of Animal Health (MARD), said to support the development of the swiftlet-breeding industry, the MARD has directed authorities, including the Department of Animal Health, to guide businesses to prepare for swiftlet farming and processing facilities to meet the requirements of export markets and international practices, and to supervise regulations on disease safety with swiftlet farming units.

“Enterprises of the swiftlet-breeding industry have carefully prepared documents and submitted them to China’s competent authorities for evaluation in April 2020. Perhaps the signing of the protocol on official export of swiftlets to China could be done in December 2020, but due to the pandemic, the two sides agreed this procedure would be carried out in early 2021. Through surveillance, disease safety has met the requirements of international practices and Chinese partners. The preparation of the protocol and the certification form has been almost completed, just waiting for the signing date,” said Long.

Affirming that procedures for exporting swiftlets to China have been almost completed, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien stated: "It is expected that in the first quarter of 2021, Vietnam could export swiftlets to the biggest swiftlet consumption market in the world.”

Regarding honey, according to some experts, the implementation of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) from August 1, 2020 has opened up lots of opportunities for this industry. The EU eliminated tariffs on Vietnam's honey products as soon as the EVFTA took effect and does not apply tariff quotas.

For durian, the size of the global durian market will reach $28.6 billion by 2025 and achieve an average growth rate of 7.2% in 2019 - 2025. This is a great opportunity for Vietnamese durian. Particularly, in the Chinese market, Vietnam recently submitted a complete dossier to open the durian and sweet potato markets.

"During the pandemic, the Vietnamese side asked the General Department of China Customs to consider flexibly applying the form of online or video inspection as they did for the bird’s nest," said Minister Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong.