Imported products dominate food supply for Tet
Imported products dominate food supply for Tet
Australian beef, US oranges, Canadian apples, and other imported foods and fruits could replace locally grown products on Vietnamese tables this Tet.
Food and fruit importers are busy stocking new shipments of products to embrace the Tet (Lunar New Year) market. The holidays will begin in late January, but people began shopping for Tet at the beginning of the month.
Food traders say it is likely that Australian beef will overplay its Vietnamese counterparts during the holidays as businesses are importing the meat in large quantities.
Trung Dong Co, based in Dong Nai Province, said it will import some 3,000 cows from Australia until Tet to meet demand.
“Tet is when the beef is most popular, so we have to increase the supply,” a company representative said.
Vissan, a well-known food supplier, imported 10,000 Aussie cows to Vietnam in late December, and is waiting for another batch of 5,000 animals.
Besides fresh Aussie beef, traders are also importing frozen pork, lamb, chicken, and goat meat to diversify the supply.
Some 2,500 tons of such frozen meat are entering Ho Chi Minh City on a weekly basis, according to the municipal animal health department. Imports are 60 percent higher than usual, the department said.
Local farmers suffer from the increase in imported food as their product prices have dramatically dropped against the increasing unsold stock.
Fruit importers are also increasing shipments of apples, oranges, grapes, cherries, pears, and plums from the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Fruits from Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and even South Africa are also preferred, according to traders.
Importers have increased purchase from the above markets and abandoned Chinese fruits following several toxic scandals of the latter, they said.
The sales manager of a fruit importer based in Binh Thuan Province said his company has imported more than $2 million worth of fruits in this month alone, up by 50 percent from previous months.
“Imported fruits are now not only on shelves at supermarkets but in small shops as well, so we have to increase supply to meet demand,” he said.
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