According to the report of the Department of Livestock Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), in the first six months of 2021, the total import turnover of livestock products is estimated at 1.82 billion USD, an increase of 8.9% over the same period in 2020. Of which, the import value of milk and dairy products is estimated at 650 million USD, an increase of 14.5%; The import value of meat, meat by-products and edible by-products after animal slaughter reached 727 million USD, up 51.5%.

It is estimated that in the first six months of the year, the country imported 12.8 thousand breeding pigs, equivalent to an import turnover of about 10 million USD; over 2.2 million breeding poultry, equivalent to an import turnover of about 12.2 million USD.

For animal feed and feed ingredients, in the first six months of the year, it is estimated that the total imported feed ingredients was 10.8 million tons, equivalent to 3.84 billion USD, up 32.7% in quantity and 50.3% in value over the same period in 2020. Of which, energy-rich feed reached 6.8 million tons, equivalent to 1.68 billion USD, up 75.6% in quantity and 112% in value over the same period in 2020; Protein-rich feed reached 3.73 million tons, equivalent to 1.65 billion USD, down 6.3% in quantity and up 23.7% in value; supplementary feed reached 0.31 million tons, equivalent to 0.49 billion USD, down 1.5% in quantity and up 17.8% in value.

On the other hand, in the first six months of 2021, the total export turnover of livestock products is estimated at 196.8 million USD, up 9.2% over the same period in 2020. Of which, the export of milk and dairy products is estimated at 60 million USD, up 35.2; Meat and meat by-products and edible by-products after animal slaughter reached 54.6 million USD, up 30.8%.

Mr. Duong Tat Thang, acting Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry, commented: In the last six months of 2021, the epidemic still occurred in some localities and places where the epidemic has been controlled still have the potential risk of re-emergence; production costs, intermediate costs, and prices of domestic livestock products remain high.

In addition, the issue of market globalization, the deep integration of our country with the world through 15 new-generation free trade agreements, in which the CPTPP and EVFTA regions are both countries with larger livestock farming space than Vietnam, will further increase market pressure for domestic livestock products. Competition is increasingly fierce in terms of price, quality, and product diversity in the context of US and European livestock products such as chicken and pork being exported to the Vietnamese market.

In 2021, the livestock industry aims to increase the average production value in 2021 by about 5-6%. The output of all kinds of meat will reach about 5.7 million tons, of which pork will reach about 3.67 million tons (up 6.1%), poultry meat will reach about 1.5 million tons (up 5.8%), and beef will reach about 395 thousand tons (up 6%). Egg output will reach about 15.6 billion eggs (up 7.5%) and milk output will reach about 1.21 million tons (up 11.5%).

To achieve the set goals, the Department will focus on directing synchronous solutions to continue to restore and increase the pig herd in the direction of biosafety; stabilize the development of poultry and develop some other livestock; Promote the development of grass-fed livestock farming, chain production and traceability;... Continue to implement the contents of building a circular production chain, biosafety and organic direction to increase product value. Strengthen channels to closely monitor developments in the livestock product market, supply and price of domestic and international animal feed ingredients. Have timely guidance measures to avoid price fluctuations for livestock products. Increase the use of domestic feed ingredients, agricultural - forestry - agricultural by-products to proactively provide a part of domestic feed, reduce product costs, especially grass-fed livestock and poultry.

According to Deputy Minister Tien, when raising livestock according to the market, there will be times of gain, times of loss, times of profit, times of break-even, so we should not consider it the general situation of the industry just because we see a few times when the price of animal feed increases, the price of livestock and poultry decreases.

“We need to look at the livestock industry in recent years as a chess game, and this game must affirm that we are on the right track. The livestock industry needs to see clearly, look directly at its current situation to know where its strengths and weaknesses are; which aspects can be promoted, which areas need improvement, so that we can have more timely directions and forecasts, avoiding being passive and following market developments”. Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien assessed.

Orienting the tasks in the last six months of 2021, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien directed the livestock industry to focus highly, especially in disease prevention and control to protect the achievements, this is a prerequisite that needs to be prioritized.

At the same time, continue to reform administrative procedures, reduce business conditions and specialized inspections to create favorable conditions for people and businesses to invest in the livestock sector, especially the processing sector to increase added value for the industry.

In particular, there should be in-depth and specialized conferences for each sector of the industry, from pig farming, poultry, aquatic animals, grass-fed cattle, specialty livestock, etc. to dissect, remove difficulties, open the market, find new directions besides traditional products, strengths that are doing well and need to continue to be maintained.