Poland plans to boost meat export into Vietnam

Poland made efforts to boost its meat exports to Vietnam as trade between the two countries continues widening.

In the first half of 2016, Vietnam was Poland’s leading trade partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Eastern European country’s seventh biggest trade partner outside the European Union (EU).

In 2015, Polish exports into Vietnam increased to USD 224 million from USD 53 million a decade ago. Exports of farm animals and related products reached USD 80 million, double from 2013.

Cows in Poland. (Source: icar2015.syskonf.pl)

With the EU – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement taking effect soon, the EU’s meat exports to Vietnam will increase as tariffs reduce.

Poland’s meat products will also offer more choice for Vietnamese consumers but the price, higher than local products, will be a concern.

Jaroslaw Robert Olowski, Deputy President of the Polish Agricultural Market Agency, said that the price will match the quality.

Witold Choinski, President of the Polish Meat Association, said that with increasing income and desire for quality food, Vietnamese people are ready to pay more for safe and clean products.

On cutting costs, Choinski suggested that Polish producers can open farms in Vietnam or export small animals to Vietnam.

Poland’s poultry output in 2015 was 2.2 million tons, 42 percent of which was exported.

The EU country is encouraging Vietnamese enterprises to make fact-finding trips to learn about production lines in Poland.

Choinsky said from 2017-2019, the association will have working trips to Vietnam and invite Vietnamese companies to learn about poultry production lines in Poland and hoped Vietnamese units would be proactive in finding products for the Vietnamese market.