Under a plan on development of the dairy industry by 2020 and then towards 2025 made by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, average consumption per capita will reach 21 litres of fresh milk this year, 27 litres in 2020 and 34 litres in 2025. — Illustrative image/ Photo biolife.vn

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam expects to increase total volume of fresh milk to 2.6 billion litres by 2020 though the dairy industry will face numerous challenges while integrating with the world economy.

This was stated by a representative of the Viet Nam Dairy Association at its meeting yesterday in HCM City. He also said that the nation expects to make 1.9 billion litres of fresh milk this year.

Under a plan on development of the dairy industry by 2020 and then towards 2025 made by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, average consumption per capita will reach 21 litres of fresh milk this year, 27 litres in 2020 and 34 litres in 2025.

In recent years, the local dairy industry has been one of those exhibiting good growth with still more potential to develop, the association said. Now, Viet Nam has 70 enterprises producing and processing milk products.

Over the past five years, the number of cowherds has increased 14 per cent each year and cows have reached 230,000 units early this year.

However, many experts said at a meeting of the livestock industry earlier this week in Ha Noi that after Viet Nam joins free trade agreements in the near future, the local dairy industry would face numerous challenges in production and in doing business due to the advantages in import tariffs for imported milk material and products to Viet Nam.

According to the Livestock Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the free trade deals will bring tariffs down to really low levels or a zero rate, so the price of imported milk products will be low and local enterprises could increase milk imports. That means enterprises would reduce the purchasing price of milk for local farmers.

Therefore, the 19,000 Vietnamese households currently rearing cows should learn how to invest in and develop their cow herds to ensure that milk producers/processors receive a steady supply of milk and can remain in business.

The domestic supply of milk has met just 28 per cent of the demand on processing milk products and yoghurt in Viet Nam, the department said. The milk producers and processors must import milk products to meet their demand, including whole milk powder (WMP) and skimmed milk powder (SMP).

The large import volume of milk powder has greatly affected the development of the local dairy industry and production of farmers.

Hoang Thanh Van, director of Livestock Department said, "in the future when free trade deals come into effect, farmers feeding cows should set up their co-operatives to sign contracts with milk enterprises on milk consumption to ensure their interests."

"Meanwhile, the livestock industry would have to improve the breed of cows by importing superior breeds from foreign countries, including Australia and the Netherlands," the director said.

The Viet Nam Dairy Association said the dairy industry should apply technologies to develop the farms that feed cows on a large scale. Additionally, farmers should also modernise the methods used for the feeding of cows. — VNS