October 20, 2009
Weak supply ups animal feed prices in Vietnam
Animal feed prices in Vietnam are seen to jack up by 15 to 20 percent higher than that in other countries due to imbalance between domestic supply and demand.
Domestic supply failing to meet demand is the major cause to the high animal feed prices in Vietnam, according to Le Ba Lich, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Animal Feed Producers.
Vietnam needs between 17 million and 18 million tonnes of animal feed yearly but local factories can provide only 8.5 million tonnes, including nearly six million tonnes of cattle and poultry feed, and 2.4 million tonnes of aquatic feed.
To supply 8.5 million tonnes for the domestic market, they have to import 3.7 million tonnes of animal feed materials.
Lich said the country's animal feed industry is facing three main challenges such as cumbersome administrative procedures, animal feed material shortage, and production technology shortage.
Vietnam now has 225 animal feed processing plants for livestock and 89 plants for aquatic farming, and of which foreign corporations account for 65 to 70 percent.
The country imported an estimated US$1.4 billion worth of animal feed and animal feed materials in the first nine months of 2009, down 3 percent against the same period of last year, according to the General Statistics Office.