Forum seeks to promote export of Vietnamese pork

The ‘Vietnam Pork Export Promotion Forum 2017’ was held for the first time in Hanoi on October 20 with the aim of seeking solutions to problems during the export of Vietnamese pork.

Illustrative Image (Pho to: Thai Thien).

According to a report at the forum, Vietnam now has 29 million pigs with a production of approximately 2.2 million tones of pork per year.

With the participation of large enterprises, particularly foreign invested enterprises in this area, the excessive production of pork will be inevitable in the near future, thus, the export of pork must be promoted.

The export of fresh pork still faces many difficulties, particularly in regards to the requirements of disease control. Vietnam has yet to be recognised by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) for free of foot-and-mouth disease, thus, Vietnamese pork is not eligible for export.

China, a large import market of Vietnamese fresh pork, has banned the import of livestock and cattle meat from Vietnam since 2012 due to fear of foot-and-mouth disease. Despite Vietnam’s efforts of negotiations, live pigs and fresh pork have yet to be imported to China.

A question for Vietnamese pork producers is how to expand export market and meet common standards of disease and product quality.

At the forum, many experiences from foreign countries similar to Vietnam including the Philippines were shared in the field of disease control and the building of farming areas which were free of food-and-mouth disease.

(Source: NDO)