Poland plans to boost meat export to Vietnam

In the first half of 2016, Vietnam was Poland’s leading trade partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Eastern European country’s seventh biggest trade partner outside the EU.

In 2015, Polish exports into Vietnam increased to US$224 million from US$53 million a decade ago. Exports of farm animals and related products reached US$80 million, double from 2013.

With the EU – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement taking effect soon, the EU’s meat exports to Vietnam will increase as tariffs reduce.

Raising cows in Poland. (Source: icar2015.syskonf.pl/agriculture)

Poland’s meat products will also offer more choice for Vietnamese consumers but the price, higher than local products, will be a concern.

Jaroslaw Robert Olowski, Deputy President of the Polish Agricultural Market Agency, said that the price will match the quality.

Witold Choinski , President of the Polish Meat Association, said that with increasing income and desire for quality food, Vietnamese people are ready to pay more for safe and clean products.

On cutting costs, Choinski suggested that Polish producers can open farms in Vietnam or export small animals to Vietnam.

Poland’s poultry output in 2015 was 2.2 million tonnes, 42% of which was exported.

The EU country is encouraging Vietnamese enterprises to make fact-finding trips to learn about production lines in Poland.

Choinsky said from 2017-2019, the association will have working trips to Vietnam and invite Vietnamese companies to learn about poultry production lines in Poland and hoped Vietnamese units would be proactive in finding products for the Vietnamese market.