The Vietnam Poultry Association on September 16 said that prices of chicken imported from the US in Vietnam were extremely low because of trade fraud.
Accordingly, the association had contacted the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council (USPEEC) to clarify the issue. The USPEEC said that the lowest price of chicken wings in the US was US$0.9 per kilogram (or VND20,160 per kilogram) while import tariff into Vietnam was 20 percent not including transport charges and preservation costs. Therefore, the price of US chicken thigh in Vietnam could not merely cost VND20,000 per kilogram.
The USPEEC added that 13 states in the US were affected by bird flu, hence, since late 2014 several countries have canceled import of chicken from these states. When chickens mature they are slaughtered and stored in cold storages. When they expire, they will be discarded under authorities’ supervision. The fact that US chicken is selling at extremely low prices shows that Vietnamese importers and US businesses have joined hands to bring this amount of expiring chicken into Vietnam then labeled false expiry dates for consumption. This is the case of trade fraud.
Tran Duy Khanh, vice chairman of the association, said that the General Office of Vietnam Customs declined to reveal the names of importers. He suggested that there was abetment from local authorities and proposed relevant departments to inspect this issue.
