HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam plans to export chicken to Japan from next year and expand chicken export markets to other Asian countries in 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said.

To reach the target, the ministry has issued a plan to supervise production chains to process export quality chicken.

The domestic animal husbandry industry has supplied between 500,000 and 700,000 tonnes of meat and 8 billion eggs per year but only salted duck eggs have been exported to Hong Kong and Singapore and the remaining was consumed in the domestic market, the ministry said.

Nguyễn Xuân Dương, deputy director of the Animal Husbandry Department, said that since 2015, with regard to the export of animal husbandry products, the industry had developed a plan to establish a safe region without diseases for poultry and cattle, for a certification of food safety from the veterinary department and meet regulations of the World Organisation for Animal Health that would help boost the export of meat to other countries.

If the local enterprises receive permission to export chicken to Japan next year, it would be a good beginning for the local husbandry industry in exporting chicken to other countries in the future, Dương said.

However, at present, local enterprises are unable to export chicken to Japan because veterinary offices in Việt Nam and Japan have not reached a consensus on the export code. The ministry has worked with its partner in Japan to resolve the obstacle, he said.

By 2017, the local enterprises which want to export processed chicken must complete the procedures to send to the relevant offices of countries that have made a demand for Việt Nam’s poultry products, according to the ministry.

It said that they should also submit the proposal to the ministry’s Animal Husbandry Department and other relevant offices. They must actively have market research, find trade partners, and ensure to fulfil the requirements on the production of chicken of importing countries.

The ministry expects that after Japan, Việt Nam could export chicken to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar and South Korea from 2018. — VNS