3:26:38 PM | 7/8/2005
MoI Plans US$139.8Mln Investment to Develop Milk Industry
The Ministry of Industry has recently approved a plan to invest more than VND2,195 billion (US$139.8 million) in developing the milk industry in
According to the plan, the industry will be developed synchronously from the production of materials to processing of end products to meet the domestic demand for milk, which is expected to reach an annual average of 10 kilos per person by 2010, and demand for exports.
Concentrated cow breeding areas are expected to supply more than 300,000 tons of fresh milk or 40 per cent of the total demand by 2010.
Milk processing plants will be developed alongside breeding areas while existing plants are required to continue expanding production.
At present, milk in Vietnam is being sold at about VND600 (3.8 US cents) a kilo or 17 per cent higher than average world prices forcing many local firms to import milk to take advantage of cheaper external prices, according to a source from the National Husbandry Institute.
Thus, import spending for milk and dairy products is about US$300 million each year. The situation is blamed on the small scale of the local dairy cow raising industry and the backward technology employed in sampling milk quality.
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