Vietnam’s tuna exports witness impressive growth
Vietnam’s tuna export turnover reached 216 million USD in the first five months of 2017, a year-on-year rise of 20 percent.
The strong growth was recorded in canned tuna products (35 percent) and frozen tuna (11 percent), reported the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Vietnam is exporting tuna to 79 countries and territories across the globe, with the US and EU being traditional major markets.
Despite the impressive growth, tuna exports are encountering some difficulties in raw materials and import duties in some key markets.
Therefore, VASEP has proposed the Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development develop fishing that uses purse seines.
It suggested the Directorate of Fisheries and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development work with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to soon reach an agreement with the EU on the specific quota for tuna exports to the market.
VASEP also requested the MoIT consider reducing tariffs on tuna exports to Japan to zero percent like Thailand and the Philippines to improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese products.
Source: VNA Date: 2017-06-08
Digital network to boost grain security
China plans to digitize the management of its grain industry by 2020 to enhance food security, as grain transportation between provinces and the amount of imported grain have been high in recent years, State authorities said.
One national management platform and 20 provincial ones will be established by the end of next year, and the whole country will be covered by a digital network by 2020, Zhang Wufeng, head of the State Administration of Grain, said on June 6 during a national video conference on grain security.
A foundation has already been laid for the national digital network. In Anhui province, for example, one provincial-level and 16 prefecture-level platforms have been established, and 100 “smart” grain depots have been connected online, he said.
He asked that more digital and information technology be used to monitor the operation of grain depots, and keep watch on safety and market management so that the warning system can be improved and hazards can be responded to more efficiently.
Grain transfers between provinces have been kept at around 170 million metric tons in the past two years, while more than 100 million tons of grain have been imported annually in the past three years, he said, noting that 85 percent of soybeans in the domestic market are imported.
“All of these have raised the need to stabilize the grain market and ensure supplies, especially emergency supplies,” he said.
While praising the development of China’s grain industry, Zhang said the industry still faces challenges, including an incomplete legal system and a shortage of supervisory officials below the State level with the necessary knowledge.
After a grain safety project was launched in 2015, 75 million tons of new grain reserves were constructed, while depots for another 120 million tons have been renovated, he said.
According to China Grain Reserve Corp, known as Sinograin, grain depots at 336 of its subsidiaries can be monitored with the help of 56,000 surveillance cameras. Its rate of reserve grain loss has decreased from 1.33 percent to less than 1 percent.
While a grain law has yet to be enacted, some of the current regulations for grain circulation and reserve, which were enacted at least a decade ago, need to be updated in line with the current situation, Zhang said.
Source: China Daily Date: 2017-06-08
Measures sought for sustainable pepper development
Measures to develop the pepper sector sustainably were discussed at a forum jointly held by the National Agricultural Extension Centre (NAEC) and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Nong on June 7.
Speaking at the event, NAEC Acting Director Tran Van Khoi said that pepper is a key export staple of Vietnam. Last year, the country shipped abroad 177,000 tonnes of pepper, earning 1.42 billion USD. Vietnam’s pepper products have been exported to 95 nations and territories, accounting for 40 percent of the world’s market share.
However, Khoi noted, the sector is facing three major matters that need to be handled: a rapid increase in pepper growing areas, unsustainable cultivation with weaknesses in terms of technology and varieties, and food safety and hygiene.
According to Vice Chairman of the provincial Dak Nong People’s Committee Truong Thanh Tung, the rapid increase of pepper planting areas is resulting in negative impacts which farmers have to suffer, including diseases and a decline in pepper price.
The price of pepper currently stands at around 75,000 VND per kg, equal to only 40 percent of the figure in the same period last year.
Therefore, pepper farmers are easily facing bankruptcy or debts as they have to invest from 350-500 million VND (15,400-22,025 USD) in one hectare.
Therefore, Tung proposed ministries and centrally-run agencies closely control pepper cultivation to produce clean products with stable quality, and enhance connection between major pepper production provinces in terms of planning, production, processing to consumption.
Dr. Nguyen Nhu Hien from the Cultivation Department stressed the need for provinces to boost trade promotion, especially in major and choosy markets such as the US, EU, and Japan.
At the forum, experts shared results of several studies on preventing several diseases, as well as measures to reduce impacts of drought on pepper trees amid climate change.
Source: VNA Date: 2017-06-08
Vietnam’s five-month tea export sees strong growth
Vietnam exported 48,000 tonnes of tea in the first five months of this year, raking in 73 million USD, representing year-on-year increases of 14.3 percent in volume and 12.4 percent in value.
In May alone, export volume was estimated at 10,000 tonnes with turnover of 17 million USD, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
However, the tea price for export in the last five months decreased 3.8 percent compared to the same period last year, to 1,452 USD per tonne on average.
India was the top consumption market of Vietnamese tea in the period, with export volume to the market increasing 11.6 times year-on-year.
It was followed by Poland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Taiwan (China) and Russia, with respective rises of 93.6 percent, 77.5 percent, 44.3 percent and 17.5 percent.
However, exports to Pakistan, the biggest market of Vietnam’s tea with 25.5 percent of the market share, decreased by 1.4 percent in volume and 6.3 percent in value compared to the same period last year.
The Vietnam Tea Association (VITAS) predicted that the country’s export volume in 2017 will increase by about 10 percent from 2016.
Vietnam exports tea to 110 countries and territories worldwide, with the Vietnamese tea brand registered for protection in 70 countries and regions.
Vietnam’s key tea export markets are Afghanistan, Indonesia, Russia, Pakistan, Taiwan (China), the US, China, the UK and the UAE.
Vietnam mainly exports black tea, accounting for about 78 percent of total tea exports.
According to Nguyen Huu Tai, President of the VITAS, Vietnam has great potential to expand production of “Shan Tuyet” tea, which is hoped to become a key tea product for export soon.
Vietnam is the world's seventh largest tea producer and among the top five tea exporters. However, the country ships mainly material tea and low-value tea products.
Experts said Vietnam should look to export high-value tea products instead, adding that the State needs to change management institutions to support tea producers and exporters.
Source: VNA Date: 2017-06-07
Aquaculture production picks up in May
Vietnam’s aquaculture output reached 370,000 tonnes in May, a year-on-year increase of 3.3 percent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The total output for the first five months this year was 1.235 million tonnes, up 2.4 percent year on year.
In the period, the total output of Tra fish in the Mekong Delta provinces hit 465,900 tonnes, up 11.1 percent from the same period last year, while aquaculture area was estimated at 3,092 hectares, falling 6.2 percent. The sharpest increase of Tra fish output was recorded in Can Tho city, by 50.1 percent, followed by An Giang, by 11.9 percent, and Dong Thap, 3.2 percent.
The price of Tra fish slightly dropped in May, to around 24,000 – 26,000 VND per kilogram. The price of Tra fish foy also fell, ranging from 27,000 – 50,000 VND (1.2 - 2.2 USD) per kg.
The nation’s total shrimp raising area was estimated at 597,000 hectares, up 6.8 percent from the same period last year, with total output topping 144,000 tonnes, increasing by 46.2 percent. Shrimp prices ranged between 85,000 VND – 340,000 VND (3.7 – 15 USD) per kg.
In the period, the output of fish catch topped 1.327 million tonnes, up 5.2 percent year on year, of which 1.264 million tonnes were caught at sea, up 5.5 percent. The total output included 311,000 tonnes caught in May, according to the Ministry.
Thanks to favourable weather, fishermen in the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien – Hue took longer offshore fishing trips.
The total output of tuna hit 10,050 tonnes, up 5.8 percent year on year, including 2,789 tonnes caught in Phu Yen, dropping 5.2 percent; 5,296 tonnes in Binh Dinh, and 2,092 tonnes in Khanh Hoa, up 14.9 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively.
Source: VNA Date 2017-06-06
Beef-import discussions set to start
US Department of Agriculture officials are scheduled to meet their counterparts in China this week as both nations prepare for the resumption of US beef exports to the mainland on July 16.
In May, China and the US reached new trade deals that partially open market access for a variety of industries, including beef, financial services and energy.
"I expect that the talks will focus on the final details of the access protocols (requirements) for US beef and perhaps any remaining issues related to plant certifications," said Derrell Peel, a professor at Oklahoma State University.
He believes that China will insist on some requirements for US beef. "I expect that access will have requirements for source verification as well as the exclusion or limitations of production technologies, especially beta agonists (growth promoting feed additives such as ractopamine) and possibly synthetic growth hormones," Peel said.
It appears that China is likely to require producers to document the locations where cattle raised for export to China are born and slaughtered, according to the USDA.
Ted Schroeder, a professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, said the lifting of the ban will be an important development for the US beef industry.
"US beef is produced for a higher-quality, higher-marbling market than the mostly grass fed beef produced by China's existing major import country sources," Schroeder said. "Canada is the only significant supplier to China of higher quality grain-fed beef and, the market potential for supplying grain-fed beef to China from the US will gain momentum."
Schroeder said if US exports to China increase quickly, US beef prices would increase a bit until the beef supply is adjusted. "Once US beef producers respond to these increased prices for cattle resulting from the exports and expand cattle production, the US consumer would see prices largely return to levels prior to the export market development," he said.
Peel said that he doesn't expect a specific quota or legal limitation to US beef imports, but he believes that the requirements China places on US imports will inherently limit the amount of US beef in China.
"I believe the Chinese market has very significant potential for US beef in the long run, but will be a work in progress and something of a moving target initially," he said.
Schroeder said Australia, New Zealand and Uruguay are the largest beef exporters in China now. China banned US beef in 2003 after an incident of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, in the state of Washington.
Source: China Daily Date: 2017-06-06
China, UN agency seek cooperation on agriculture
China's Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative office in China have released a planning framework for agriculture cooperation in the 2016-2020 period.
The framework outlines four major fields for cooperation: jointly pushing sustainable agricultural development, reducing rural poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, as well as improving public hygiene and supporting China in regional and international agriculture cooperation.
"China's agricultural development still faces multiple challenges such as market changes and pressures from climate change. The planning framework would enable China to better cope with the difficulties," said MOA official Tang Shengyao.
After years of bumper harvests, China no longer struggles with food shortages, but structural problems remain: agricultural products are oversupplied and some are still heavily imported, while homegrown produce struggles to compete with foreign rivals.
To address the issue, Chinese policymakers have pledged to focus more on supply-side structural reform in the sector in 2017, including efforts to accelerate agricultural modernization and enhance the competitiveness of farm produce.
China's grain output decreased 0.8 percent from a year earlier to 616.24 million tonnes in 2016
Source: Xinhua News Agency Date: 2017-06-05
Seminar discusses hi-tech application in dairy farming
A seminar on the application of high technology in dairy farming was held in Hanoi on June 2.
Tong Xuan Chinh, deputy head of the Department of Livestock Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that Vietnam’s dairy farming has yet to meet the demand of more than 90 million people.
Some localities have a large number of dairy cows such as Ho Chi Minh City with 90,000 heads, Nghe An with 62,000 and Hanoi with 15,000.
However, there was no firm connection between businesses and farmers, causing many difficulties for farmers.
Many experts said that Vietnam needs to promote breeding structure transfer and devise land planning for raising ruminants like buffaloes and cows.
It is necessary to encourage all economic sectors to invest in large-scale dairy cow breeding that applies high technology, they added.
Standing Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Ruminant Husbandry Association Le Van Thong said that the country currently has more than 24,000 dairy farms with nearly 283,000 milk cows which yield 800,000 tonnes of fresh milk and meet about 40 percent of consumers’ demand.
Statistics of the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that in 2016, Vietnam spent more than 849 million USD importing milk. The figure was over 214 million USD in first three months of 2017, down 10.6 percent year-on-year.
Per capita milk consumption in Vietnam is estimated at 22 litres per year, compared to the world average level of 104 litres per year.
Thong pointed out shortcomings in dairy farming in Vietnam such as limited application of advanced and modern technology and inconsistent State policies.
At the event, experts also shared technical measures and advanced technology in breed selection, feed processing and disease prevention, along with measures to increase reproductive ability and milk productivity.
Source: VNA Date: 2017-06-05
Chinese counties to pilot agricultural disaster insurance
A total of 200 major grain-producing Chinese counties will pilot agricultural disaster insurance this year and next year to improve their ability to counter natural disasters, according to the Ministry of Finance.
The 200 pilot counties, which mainly plant rice, wheat and corn, are located in 13 major grain-producing provinces in China, including the top three producers, Heilongjiang, Henan and Shandong.
The pilot projects will focus on improving insurance coverage and compensation standards for farmers with relatively large grain cultivation operations.
The finance ministry encouraged local governments to explore customized insurance services and share experience.
The disaster insurance system is designed to ease financial burdens for the government as post-disaster reconstruction is mostly financed by the state.
Source: Xinhua News Agency Date: 2017-06-05
Vietnam’s food industry attractive to foreign investors
Several foreign firms have recently acquired stakes in Vietnamese food processing enterprises, showing the local food industry’s increasing attractiveness.
CJ Cheil Jedang (CJ) of the Republic of Korea (RoK) purchased 71.6 percent of shares of the Cau Tre Export Goods Processing JSC (Cau Tre) – a prestigious food processor in Vietnam.
Previously, it also bought Minh Dat Food, a big meatball producer in the local market.
According to Chairwoman of Cau Tre’s Board of Directors Tran Thi Hoa Binh, the merger with the foreign partner helped the Vietnamese firm expand capital sources and access new technologies, diversifying its products and increasing competitiveness. Meanwhile, the foreign partner benefits from Cau Tre’s advantages and experience in the domestic market.
Along with CJ, Daesang Corp of the RoK purchased 13 million shares of Duc Viet food in March this year.
Food makers from Thailand and Japan are also enhancing trade promotion programmes and seeking more partners in Vietnam.
According to the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in Ho Chi Minh City, the value of Japan’s food export to Vietnam reached 7.5 billion USD a year, with Japan aiming for a 30-percent growth of the export by 2019.
JETRO said it will work with Japanese retail systems such as Ministop, FamilyMart, and Aeon to study Vietnamese consumers’ demand in order to bring more Japanese foods to the country.
Experts said a stable economic growth is the foundation for the boom in Vietnam’s food and beverage industry, which accounts for 15 percent of GDP and even higher in the future. Nielsen Vietnam estimated the country’s food and beverage market was valued at 30 billion USD in 2016.
Source: VNA Date 2017-06-02