HCM City (VNS/VNA) -Increasing meat imports are adding to the pressure on the country’s livestockindustry brought by free trade agreements and the African swine flu epidemic,experts said.

Vietnamimported 8,000 tonnes of pork and more than 142,000 tonnes of chicken in the firsteight months of this year, three times the volume in the same period last year,according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs report.

Theimports are welcomed by consumers because of their cheap prices.

A kilogramof imported pork costs 27,000 VND (1.2 USD) while domestic prices are around 35,000VND (1.57 USD), especially amid the havoc caused to the industry by Africanswine flu.

Pork isimported mainly from Brazil (40 percent), Poland (15-17 percent), Canada, theUS, and Australia.

Chickenimported from the US costs only 17,000-23,000 VND ( 0.7 to 1 USD) per kilogrammecompared to more than 30,000 VND (1.3 USD) for local products.

The USexports more than 62,400 tonnes of chicken to Vietnam worth 48.6 million USD.

Theimports are cheap because exporting countries have highly specialised andautomated livestock industries, the farming is developed in closed chains and,above all, in many places they genetically modify animals to make them growfaster and bigger.

In Vietnam,nearly everything used in livestock farming, from young animals and feed tomedicines, come from imports, and as a result costs are high.

Householdsare the major players in the livestock industry, but they do not work togetheras part of a production chain, and companies have not been able to integratethem into their operations.

Meat imports are expected to increase further with the signing of the EU-VietnamFree Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and other trade deals, which would see a reductionin tariffs.

Pham ThiHong Hanh of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that importtariff on beef from the EU would drop from 5-30 percent to zero within three tofive years.

Thetariffs will go after 10 years on pork and 14 years on poultry.-VNS/VNA