Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam held a working session with Dutch company Jan Zandbergen and some partners exporting livestock products to the European Union.

During the meeting in Ha Noi on Thursday, the Dutch company’s representative said the EU’s 500 million people market has high demand for chicken meat and it currently imports the meat mainly from Brazil, Thailand and Ukraine.

In 2017, the EU had demand for 950,000 tonnes of chicken meat, 85 per cent of which is chicken breast. Jan Zandbergen plans to import 85,000 tonnes of poultry, pork and beef worth 400 million euros.

Jan Zandbergen’s representative advised Viet Nam to export processed chicken meat to the EU, as when the Viet Nam-EU free trade agreement takes effect, tax will be cut to zero per cent and Vietnamese chicken meat will not be subject to any EU quota.

However, he stressed that Vietnamese firms should meet all quarantine-related requirements, especially food safety regulations, origin and disease tracking rules.

Pham Van Dong, head of the Department of Animal Health, said Viet Nam has issued the Animal Health Law and 13 legal documents in the field, and the country has full capacity to satisfy all requirements of choosy markets, including Japan.

Dong proposed that Jan Zandbergen consider investing in building a processing facility meeting EU standards in Viet Nam.

Deputy Minister Tam said Viet Nam has shipped the first batch of chicken breast to Japan after adhering to all the strict requirements on food safety.

He hoped that Viet Nam would export chicken meat to the EU and other difficult markets soon. — VNS