HA NOI: Viet Nam was the second largest live cattle importer of Australia in the fiscal year 2014-15 with 309,505 heads, up 136 percent, according to the Meat & Livestock Australia Limited (MLA)’s website on August 13.
During the period starting July 1, 2014, Australia exported a total of 1.38 million heads of cattle, up 22 percent compared to a year earlier, and brought home US$1.4 billion, a 29 percent rise.
Indonesia continued to be the largest importer with 746,193 heads last year, representing a 20 per cent increase. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Viet Nam consumes meat from about 4,000 cows a day.
The ministry said in recent years, Viet Nam had reached a strong growth in beef imports from the US, Australia and Japan.
The Livestock Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said last year, Viet Nam imported 150,000 heads of cow from Australia for domestic consumption and some thousands of heads from Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
The department said the import value of beef to Viet Nam was estimated to reach $300 million this year, $50 million higher than last year.
Since May of 2015, Viet Nam has allowed businesses to import boneless beef under 30-month-old from France, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has announced.
