Farmed chicken price falls, as problems come home to roost

This month witnessed a drop in domestic chicken prices of more than VND10,000 (US$0.4) compared with the previous month, touching VND20,000-22,000 per kilo of white-feather chicken and by VND9,000-12,000 to VND25,000-26,000 per kilo of coloured-feather chicken.

According to Deputy Chairman of the Animal Livestock Associations in the southeast region Nguyen Van Ngoc, the price of rice bran has risen continuously, partly causing chicken farmers to lose VND2,000-4,000 per kilo of chicken.

“The main reason is that too many imported chicken products have been shipped to Vietnam, especially the kind of tough chicken (at about VND25,000 per kilo), causing a rapid increase in supply. Domestic chicken failed to compete and so its price has dropped,” said Ngoc.

Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that the country imported more than 105,000 tonnes of chicken meat in the first seven months of this year, equivalent to 85% of last year.

Deputy Director of the general department’s Import and Export Department Le Manh Hung said that in tax calculation, there were many factors adding to the taxable price, but many enterprises may not have fully declared such figures, intending to hide or neglecting to inform the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

“We have adjusted the tax rate after checking. There are quite a lot of cases adjusted to 30% compared with the businesses’ previously declared price,” Hung said, “However, this is not the main factor causing the imported chicken price to be cheaper than the domestic one.”

Hung said the imported chicken meat was mainly chicken wings and thighs, parts which were popular among Vietnamese consumers. Meanwhile, foreigners prefer to eat chicken breast, so they sell chicken wings and thighs at cheaper prices.

In addition, Hung said imported chicken products were cheaper because the foreign countries often raise chicken on large-scale farms with thousands of chickens. “The farms use modern automation and labour is minimal while they are proactive in food and veterinary medicine. Therefore, the price of their chicken is cheaper than that of Vietnam.”

In 2017, the country imported 122,714 tonnes of chicken of all kinds with total value of US$111.6 million.