Live bird nest cam

Vietnam is waiting for the completion of import-export procedures with China, a stepping stone for the Southeast Asian country to officially tap into the high-demand Chinese market for bird’s nests, which offers a variety of opportunities and profits.

China is the largest consumer of bird’s nests in the world, according to the Vietnam Farms and Agricultural Enterprises Association (VFAEA).

China’s statistics show that the official import of bird’s nests into China was 180 metric tons in 2019 and 220 metric tons in 2020 while it is estimated to reach 300 metric tons in 2021.

From 2015 to 2017, bird’s nest trade on Chinese social networks multiplied by 30 times.

In 2017, the online sales of bird’s nests on the platform China’s Alibaba Group alone reached about US$2 billion.

However, China currently applies very strict regulations on importing bird’s nests, with Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand being the only three Southeast Asian exporters.

In Vietnam, the average yearly output of bird’s nests reaches about 120 metric tons, according to the VFAEA’s vice-chairman Nguyen Van Minh.

The Vietnamese bird’s nest industry only started to thrive in 2010, with the country’s production accounting for about three percent of global swallow nest production.

In order to profit from the Chinese bird’s nest market, Vietnamese firms had carefully prepared before submitting their applications in April 2020 to competent agencies in China to gain official admission to this target market.

The signing of protocols for official export of bird’s nests to China was originally slated to take place in December 2020. But due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides rescheduled the procedure to early 2021.

Inspections and review results have shown that such Vietnamese bird’s nest producers have met all requirements of international practices and Chinese partners on COVID-19 safety, while the paperwork preparation for the protocols is also almost complete.

At the beginning of 2021, the Vietnamese Bird’s Nest Farms Association, under the VFAEA, continuously organized business trips to provinces with large numbers of selected swiftlet houses to prepare for export to China.

All information about the location, production, traceability of bird’s nest products will be made public, according to the VBHA’s chairwoman Do Tu Quan.

The VFAEA also built a preliminary processing center and a quality inspection center for bird’s nests in Ho Chi Minh City to facilitate immediate export once the permission is eventually passed, Quan said.

In addition, the VFAEA has worked with many swiftlet houses that want to participate in supplying bird’s nests to expand the supply chain for export.

Vietnam’s first official order of bird’s nests to China is expected to be shipped in the first quarter of 2021, according to Quan.

Concerns

According to the Vietnamese Bird’s Nest Farms Association, the number of new swiftlet houses increased sharply, but without proper registration or any standards in the 2018-19 period, causing difficulties in their management by state agencies.

While the Department of Livestock Production, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, estimated that there are currently about 12,000 swiftlet houses nationwide, the statistics of the Vietnam Bird’s Nest Farms Association showed that the number of swiftlet houses exceeded 30,000.

However, the increase in quantity does not go hand in hand with quality.

Many swiftlet houses have failed to ensure hygiene standards, leading to a high nitrate content in the nest, which makes it not meet the quality standards for export.

In addition, most Vietnamese swiftlet houses harvest, process, and put their nests up for sale at home manually.

This leads to Vietnam having many local brands of bird’s nests, but their quality lags far behind the requirements of international consumers.

The low quality has resulted in low product values, most of which are merely purchased by domestic traders or exported in raw form with small quotas.

The Vietnamese Bird’s Nest Farms Association said it will give the owners of swiftlet houses guidance on repairing and cleaning their facilities to overcome the aforementioned limitations, in order to ensure the prestige of Vietnam’s national brand of bird’s nests.

The authorities want Vietnam not to follow Malaysia’s mistake where 80 percent of Malaysian investors in bird’s nests report ineffective operations.

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A swift’s-nest farming place in Kiên Giang Province. — VNS Photo Văn Châu

HCM CITY — Việt Nam’s bird-nest exports are expected to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars when the world’s largest market, China, opens up this year.

Chinese demand for bird’s nest is growing, but Vietnamese firms need to take new measures to officially export to that country rather than involve in informal border trade, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) said.

Đỗ Tú Quân, head of the Việt Nam Swiftlet Farming Association, said Vietnamese exporters hope the two countries would quickly reach agreement and the first order to China could be delivered this quarter.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phùng Đức Tiến said the industry has been developing rapidly in the country, mostly in the south, but the unofficial border trade has been resulting in low value and profits.

There are 20,000 nests farmed in 42 of the country’s 63 provinces and cities with approximately 120 tonnes worth US$450 million harvested annually, according to Tiến.

But exports to China account for only 8 per cent.

China banned import of bird’s nests of unclear origin from Việt Nam in 2011 following a fake products scandal.

It lifted the ban in 2015 and replaced it with tough rules aimed at improving safety and traceability.

Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand have all completed legal procedures to export bird’s nest to China, but Việt Nam cannot export officially due to several reasons, including the lack of quality standards for the product and export standards.

In recent years MARD has sought to promote exports to foreign markets, including China.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, negotiations to export the product to China have mainly been conducted through online meetings but are almost complete, deputy director of MARD’s department of livestock breeding, Nguyễn Văn Trọng, said.

Many swift breeding places are unhygienic, leading to a very high nitrate content in the nest, which does not meet export quality standards, but the association would help farmers overcome this, she said.

Việt Nam needs to build a brand name for its bird’s nest and develop production chains for it, she said.

Its bird’s nests eligible for exports could meet a third of the demand in China, opening up huge opportunities, she said.

The Vietnamese swift-breeding industry began to thrive in 2010, with its production accounting for 3 per cent of the global output.

While bird’s nests are a speciality with high economic value and one of the 10 most expensive dishes in the world, their production in the country remains far below traditional agricultural products, and they have yet to be classified as a key national product. — VNS

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By Do Oanh

MOSCOW — Russia has registered the first case of a strain of bird flu virus named A(H5N8) being passed to humans from birds and has reported the matter to the World Health Organization (WHO), Anna Popova, head of consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said on Saturday.

Outbreaks of the H5N8 strain have been reported in Russia, Europe, China, the Middle East and North Africa in recent months but so far only in poultry. Other strains – H5N1, H7N9 and H9N2 – have been known here) to spread to humans.

Russia reported the case of human infection to the WHO “several days ago, just as we became absolutely certain of our results,” Popova said on Rossiya 24 state TV. There was no sign yet of transmission between humans, she added.

Seven workers at a poultry plant in Russia’s south had been infected with the H5N8 strain in an outbreak at the plant in December, Popova said, adding that the individuals involved felt fine now. “This situation did not develop further,” she said.

In an email WHO’s European arm said it had been notified by Russia about a case of human infection with H5N8 and acknowledged this would if confirmed be the first time the strain had infected people.

“Preliminary information indicates that the reported cases were workers exposed to bird flocks,” the email said. “They were asymptomatic and no onward human to human transmission was reported.

“We are in discussion with national authorities to gather more information and assess the public health impact of this event,” the email added.

The majority of human bird flu infections have been associated with direct contact with infected live or dead poultry, though properly cooked food is considered to be safe.

Bird flu outbreaks often prompt poultry plants to kill their birds to prevent the virus from spreading, and avoid importing countries having to impose trade restrictions.

The vast majority of cases are spread by migrating wild birds, so producing countries tend to keep their poultry indoors or protected from contact with wildlife.

Siberia’s Vector Institute said on Saturday it would start developing human tests and a vaccine against H5N8, RIA news agency reported.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Vietnam urged both the Vietnamese government and public to remain vigilant in protective efforts against H5N8 human infection following the first confirmed cases of human transmission in Russia, the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.

Russian authorities have reported that seven poultry farm workers, aged 29 to 60, have been infected with the A(H5N8) strain of avian influenza, also known as bird flu.

All of the cases were asymptomatic.

According to the WHO, the group of seven are the first confirmed cases of the A(H5N8) strain making the jump to humans.

To date, there has been no evidence to suggest that severe human infection or human-to-human transmission of this virus has occurred and that this event likely represents an isolated spillover of the virus from infected chickens to humans.

Vietnam’s Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has yet to detect an H5N8 case in the country.

Still, the department has announced plans to increase testing for H5N8 as part the national avian influenza surveillance program in 2021.

“Technically, the H5N8 virus shares antigenic characteristics of the H5N6 virus circulating in Vietnam,” the FAO quoted Dr. Pawin Padungtod, senior technical coordinator of FAO Vietnam, as saying in its press release.

“The current avian influenza vaccine used in Vietnam should remain effective to prevent the disease in poultry.”

According to Dr. Satoko Otsu, team lead of WHO Health Emergency Program in Vietnam, the risk of human infection of this specific strain in the country is very low.

Despite the low risk, Dr. Otsu said people must remain vigilant and continue to practice personal protective measures against the avian flu.

Bird flu infections in humans are typically associated with direct contact with infected live or dead poultry.

“We should continue with our coordinated surveillance, both in the animal and human health sectors,” Dr, Otsu added.

“The public can support us by reporting large-scale sickness or death at poultry farms as soon as possible and by practicing personal protective measures.”

Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N8) have been reported in Russia, Europe, China, the Middle East, and North Africa in recent months, but only in poultry and wild birds.

Other strains of HPAI, such as H5N1, H5N6 and H7N9, have been transmitted to humans before.

HPAI H5N1 has killed 64 Vietnamese people since it first appeared in the country in 2003, according to the FAO.

No human deaths have been reported since 2014, but occasional outbreaks in poultry have caused the culling of many chickens and ducks.

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