Over the past decade the Vietnamese beef sector has witnessed significant change. A growing population of around 100 million people and a 35% upsurge in domestic demand for beef products over the last 5 years together with increasing consumer awareness and demand for increased hygiene, food safety and nutrition present both opportunities as well as challenges for the sector.

Increased demand has led to a change in supply patterns for beef in Vietnam. From a position of self-sufficiency in the early 2010’s, Vietnam now supplies around half of beef demand from domestically produced cattle with the balance coming from a variety of sources, including beef produced from cattle imported from Myanmar, Thailand and Australia; beef imported from Australia, USA, Brazil and Argentina; and frozen buffalo meat from India.

The rapid changes in sources of beef accompanied by increases in demand and unstable international trading conditions mean that the policy implications of the future pathways for Vietnam to meet its beef demand are not yet well understood. Policymakers need to consider many factors when developing strategies for the beef sector, including imports of fodder and feed grains, changes in cold chain availability, the impact of increased competition with China for animal protein and implications for Vietnam’s GHG emission targets.

IPSARD conducted a study to gain insights and evidence about drivers and implications of rapid transformations in trading patterns of beef and cattle in Vietnam and to propose potential policy implications of these transformations.