Vietnam is estimated to spend US$589 million importing animal feed and materials for producing animal feed in the first three quarters of this year, up 24.1% on year despite a sharp decrease in its animal and poultry population due to bird flu and foot and mouth diseases.
The bill, which was released by the General Statistics Office, surpassed the total feed import turnover in 2005. Last year, the country spent US$500 million importing 1.68 million tons of materials for producing animal feed, accounting for half of the production value.
Main material imports include corn, soybean cakes, bone powder, wheat and minerals with most coming from the US.
Statistics from the Livestock Breeding Department under the MARD show that Vietnam currently has almost 250 animal feed firms with an annual combined capacity of 5.3 million tons, meeting just 45 to 50% of domestic demand.
The country, meanwhile, uses up around nine million tons of feed per annum, 80% for pigs, 18% for poultry, and the remainder for cattle. The shortage, thus, comes from imports.
Vietnam’s animal feed processing industry, as of late September 2006, has licensed more than 88 foreign-invested projects with total registered capital of $858 million, accounting for 11.6% of total of foreign investment in agricultural field.
The foreign capital mostly comes from the Netherlands, France, Singapore and China.
Projects that have operated effectively include the Vietnam Husbandry Joint-stock Company, Proconco, and Cargill.
(GSO)
Vietnamese
