On March 26, speaking with the press on the sidelines of the bird's nest conference held in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Truong, General Director of Khang Long bird's nest Joint Stock Company (Ho Chi Minh City), said: Most of the profits in the bird's nest industry are enjoyed by Chinese traders.
They go to the bird farming house in Vietnam to buy raw bird's nest at the current price of about 1,000 USD/kg, bring it to China for wholesale at 5,000 USD/kg and retail at up to 10,000 USD/kg. The price of refined bird's nest in Vietnam is about 50 million VND/kg, but in China they can sell it for 500 million VND/kg. Due to the inability to officially export, most of the trade activities between the two sides are carried out by Chinese traders and enjoy profits while the bird's nest collects very little compared to the effort put in.
"In the future, if Vietnam can officially export bird's nest to China, the value of the revenue will be huge, possibly up to billions of USD with the current bird's nest output reaching about 100 tons/year and the possibility of a sharp increase in the coming time" - Mr. Truong analyzed.
Vietnam has 42 provinces and cities developing bird houses, the most being Kien Giang (925 houses), at least Kon Tum (1 house) but Ho Chi Minh City has the highest bird output in the country (over 14 tons), followed by Long An (9.6 tons).
According to the Department of Animal Husbandry (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), bird's nest is a product with high nutritional and economic value but the annual export volume only reaches 100-125 million USD.
Mr. Lac Nghia Ninh, Vice President of the Chinese Physical Medicine and Pharmacy Association, assessed that thanks to suitable natural conditions, Vietnam is one of the countries with an excellent source of bird's nest. China accounts for 80% of the global bird's nest market, but Vietnam has not yet officially exported this item here.
Regarding the opening of the official export of bird's nest to the Chinese market, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said: The Ministry has sent an official dispatch requesting the Chinese customs to officially open this product. The customs authority has begun a risk assessment process for imported bird groups and Vietnam is implementing it according to the request of the other side.
