Surge in Canadian beef imports: customs department

These figures represent 2.8 times and 3.8 times the quantity and value in the same period last year.

Canadian beef import turnover will increase sharply in the coming time, Canadian Consul General in HCMC Behzad Babakhanic said, noting that the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) was boosting trade between Canada and Vietnam, especially in agricultural products, including beef.

Vietnam is Canada’s largest market in Southeast Asia with an average two-way trade of CAD9 billion Canadian dollars (US$7.07) a year, Babakhanic said.

Canadian beef is being sold in many supermarkets in Vietnam with prices similar to Vietnamese beef.

“I’m surprised to know that the price of Canadian beef here is fairly low, the lowest among all imported beef,” said Thanh, a shopper at a supermarket on Nguyen Oanh Road in HCMC.

Thanh noted that the price of one kilogram of U.S. short plate and flank beef was VND350,000 ($15), while that of Canadian beef was VND210,000 ($9).

Vietnam imported 50,000 tons of beef worth $220 million, with half of the volume coming from Australia, between January and October, said the department.