Because the supply from the domestic farming industry has only met about 37% of the number of raw materials for the production of animal feed, the import turnover of animal feed materials in 7 months of 2022 reached 3.1 billion USD…
The cultivation area and yield of corn are still low. (Photo: Internet)
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in 7 months of 2022, the animal feed production sector had to spend nearly 2.7 billion USD to import two main materials, corn and soybean.
In addition, Vietnam spent more than 400 million USD to import other materials: oil cake 2.2 million tonnes; wheat 0.73 million tonnes; fish meal, bone meal, animal protein, and a mixture of trace substances (Premix).
Thus, the import of inputs for animal feed production from the beginning of the year reached US$3.1 billion.
IMPORTED 5.1 MILLION TONNES OF CORN AND 1.3 MILLION TONNES OF SOYBEAN
According to the Department of Livestock, because the production of corn and soybean in the domestic market has only met about 37% of the demand of the animal feed production industry, over many years, our country has to import a very large volume of these two ingredients.
Regarding corn, the import volume in July 2022 reached 500,000 tonnes with a value of $191.7 million. Cumulatively in 7 months, corn imports reached 5.1 million tonnes, equivalent to 1.8 billion USD, down 21.9% in volume but not much fluctuation in value compared to the same period in 2021. The price of imported corn remains at a high level of 300 – 380 USD/tonne.
The volume of soybeans imported in July 2022 was estimated at 250,000 tonnes with a value of 189.4 million USD, bringing the total volume and value of soybean imports in July 2022 to 1.3 million tonnes and 893.6 million USD, equivalent in volume and increase of 22.8% in value compared to the same period in 2021.
Brazil, the United States, and Canada were the three main soybean suppliers for Vietnam in the first half of 2022 with a 99.2% market share.
“Industrial animal feed production in the first half of 2022 reached 10.5 million tonnes, equal to the first 6 months of 2021. Of which, pig feed accounted for about 55% of total production, up about 13.2%; poultry feed accounted for 40%, down about 8.6%; other types accounted for 5%, down about 12.5%”.
Data from the Livestock Department.
The Livestock Department believes that the Covid-19 pandemic has broken the global supply chain, including the imported animal feed material supply chain. The decreased supply and the increased price of transportation have caused the price of raw materials and finished products to go up.
In addition, the political crisis between Russia and Ukraine (the largest and fourth largest exporters of wheat in the world) is having a major impact on global food supply and prices, directly affecting the prices of corn and other agricultural products in the world market and Vietnam.
On the other hand, the United States increased bio-alcohol production from corn, and South American countries such as Argentina and Brazil lost their crops because of the drought, which caused a sharp drop in corn exports, pushing prices up.
Recently, some countries have had a policy of suspending food exports to ensure domestic food security, which will also reduce the supply and increase the price of animal feed materials in the world. This problem has caused many difficulties for enterprises and farmers when production costs have increased while the selling price of livestock products tends to decrease.
From July 2022 to now, the price of animal feed materials has been decreasing slightly. (Photo: Internet)
Currently, the price of some main materials compared to the average in June decreases, specifically: corn seed price of VND 8,600/kg (down 5.5%); soybean oil cake of VND 14,050/kg (down 0.4%); animal nutrition of VND 10,500/kg (equivalent); extracted rice bran of VND 5,550/kg (down 0.3%).
The Livestock Department forecasts that in the last 5 months of the year, the price of some of the animal feed industry’s main raw materials may decline. However, the reduction is not expected to be much due to the recent implementation of a domestic food security policy that prohibits the export, affecting the prices of corn, soybean oil cake, and wheat as feed.
THE “PROBLEM” OF RAW MATERIALS
According to the statistics of the General Department of Customs, throughout the period from 2013 to now, imports of animal feed and raw materials have only decreased in 2 years, 2017 and 2019, while in other years, the value of imports has all increased.
Specifically, the import turnover in 2013 was US$3 billion; in 2014, US$3.25 billion; in 2015, US$3.39 billion; in 2016, US$3.44 billion. By 2017, the value of imports decreased by 6.4% compared to 2016, reaching more than US$3.22 billion.
Soon after, in 2018, the value of imports increased sharply by 21.2% compared to 2017, reaching more than US$3.91 billion. In 2019, the value of imports reached more than US$3.7 billion, down 5.4% compared to 2018.
However, in the past 3 years, the import of animal feed and raw materials has increased sharply. Specifically, in 2020, it reached 3.84 billion USD, and in 2021, 4.93 billion USD.
“The average corn yield in our country is only 4.8-5 tonnes per hectare; while other countries use genetically modified seeds with the yield is up to 9 tonnes per hectare. Like soybean, the yield in the United States reaches 132 fruits/plant, while in Vietnam, each plant gives less than 70 fruits”.
Mr. Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Talking to the press about the situation of the import turnover of animal feed materials is too high, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development – Mr.Phung Duc Tien said that the productivity of corn and soybean in Vietnam is low, production prices are high, profits are less attractive than other crops.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong, Vice President of the Vietnam Animal Feed Association, said that nearly 100% of imported corn is transgenic corn. Vietnam has also allowed the cultivation of transgenic corn varieties for many years, but the cultivation area of transgenic corn is low.
In fact, the use of transgenic seeds has helped plants have the types of genes such as anti-weed genes, anti-pest genes, etc., ensuring the productivity of plants and reducing production costs. But, because corn in our country is mainly grown on steep land, hilly land, and non-greasy land, irrigation water still depends on nature, so the productivity of transgenic corn varieties has not been maximized.
According to experts, it is “impossible” to escape from total dependence on imported animal feed materials in the short term.
Over the past 10 years, in the Agricultural Restructuring Project, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has set one direction to convert a part of the cultivated land for low economic value to planting for animal feed materials.
At the same time, we focus on researching corn and soybean varieties to improve productivity. However, the actual area and production of these plants have not increased so far.
Mr. Tran Lam Sinh, Deputy Director of Dong Nai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the domestic livestock sector needs to take advantage of agricultural by-products processed into animal feed, propagandize for farmers to partially replace with locally available by-products, such as beer residue, coconut powder residue, and rice bran.
As confirmed by Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and functional sectors are still directing the development of animal feed material areas to be partially proactive.
Recently, following the recommendations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, De Heus Group (Netherlands) is coordinating with the Department of Crop Production and the Department of Livestock to build cooperatives to grow cassava and corn in the Central Highlands provinces to ensure closed purchasing for direct animal feed production.