Vietnam’s animal feed exports would likely touch the US$1 billion mark in the near future as many large-scale enterprises in the field have continued to expand their production, trade experts have predicted.

Animal feed is packed at a JAPFA Comfeed Vietnam factory in Thai Binh province

The country’s livestock feed exports in December 2020 grew very robustly, reaching US$80 million, up to 55% month-on-month and 10% year-on-year, statistics from the General Department of Customs showed.

This sharp increase in December was fueled by a high growth rate in three leading markets of China, Cambodia, and the US at 84%, 66% and 69%, respectively.

Thanks to such a significant growth seen in December, the country’s animal feed export turnover in 2020 reached over US$800 million, up 17% compared to 2019 with China, Cambodia and the US being the three largest consumption markets, accounting for over 10% of the nation’s total export value.

Last year, Vietnamese exports of animal feed to China in 2020 topped US$211.23 million, a yearly increase of 16%, and making up 26.4% of the total turnover while the figure to Cambodia hit US$122.3 million, increasing 23% year-on-year or equivalent to 15.3% of the proportion.

Meanwhile, exports to the US reached US$114.5 million, up 125% compared to 2019, accounting for 14.3% of the proportion. This impressive growth rate demonstrated that Vietnamese animal feed could penetrate more and more into tough markets. 

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the country's turnover in exports of such products to key markets increased in 2020 compared to the previous year.

However, turnovers of many small markets were still declining such as Japan with US$26.2 million, down 27% year-on-year; the Republic of Korea with US$19 million, down 18.5% and Indonesia with US$11 million, down 33%.

Vietnam is now home to 265 animal feed production businesses, of which 180 were domestically run. Although domestic enterprises outperformed in terms of quantity, foreign firms still led the way in terms of capacity and market share.