More different kinds of foreign meat will be available in Vietnam in the post-WTO period, bringing more choices to Vietnamese housewives. However, domestic chicken will be favored thanks to local customers’ habits.
Under its commitments to the global trade club, Vietnam will impose 20 per cent tax on imported pierced chicken, and frozen by-products, and 40 per cent on whole chickens.
Director of a trading company in Ho Chi Minh City (HCM City) said that with the committed tax rates, chicken wings and legs will be imported to Vietnam which are ‘soft’ in prices.
Phu An Sinh Company’s Director Pham Van Minh also said that there will be more and more foreign-made products, adding that imported chicken will be suitable for fast food.
However, Mr Minh said Vietnamese consumers will still favor domestic chicken, bred by households on a small scale. Besides, Vietnamese consumers like buying chickens whole, while most foreign-sourced chickens are without heads.
Nguyen Thi Hai, the owner of the chicken shop at Nguyen Thai Binh Market in district 1, HCM City, said that she has been selling Australia-made chicken, but the sale goes very slowly.
When negotiating for joining the WTO, Vietnamese negotiators pledged to cut tariffs on poultry breeders in order to encourage local production. That explains why many investors are considering importing poultry breeders for local farming.
“I’m planning to set up a new business, which will specialize in exporting chicken breasts and providing chicken legs and wings to fast food restaurants,” Mr Minh said, adding that many fast food shops, like US based KFC in HCM City, will profusely consume the chicken material supply.
The 0 per cent tax rate to be applied soon after Vietnam joins the WTO will help investors save investment expenses, which will lead to lower prices on different poultry meats in the time to come.
Meanwhile, analysts said foreign beef also could not overwhelm Vietnamese market after the country joins WTO because of its high prices. A kilo of foreign beef will be priced at $17 after Vietnam joins the WTO, which is still higher than the current level of foreign-sourced beef, and 2.5 times higher than Vietnam-made beef.
Vietnam has pledged to cut the tariff on foreign-made beef to 14 per cent in five years, while the tax rate on cow viscera from the US will be reduced from 20 per cent to 15 per cent right after Vietnam joins the WTO and further reduced to 8 per cent in four years.
Contrary to all predictions, the committed tax rates on beef are all higher than the currently applied levels, relieving local livestock farmers’ minds.
Dinh Quoc Phong, a staff member of Metro, the biggest retailer in Vietnam, said that meat prices will decrease as a result of a profuse supply on the market. However, foreign-sourced beef will be much higher than locally-made products, leaving locally made products the main choices of Vietnamese consumers.
VietnamNet
Vietnamese
