Vietnamese bird’s nests to have huge export opportunities

About 42 out of 63 provinces and cities in Vietnam are participating in the swift breeding industry with a total of 20,000 birdhouses and an annual volume of approximately 120 tonnes, worth about US$450 million.

Bird's nest products of Khanh Hoa Salangane Nests Company.
Bird's nest products of Khanh Hoa Salangane Nests Company.

Vietnam’s swift breeding industry began to thrive since 2010, with the volume accounting for 3% of the global bird’s nest production. The southern province of Kien Giang has the largest number of birdhouses at 2,600.

“In recent years, in realising the great export potential of bird's nest products, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has actively promoted the export of bird’s nest to foreign markets, including the Chinese market. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,the negotiations to export the product to China are mainly conducted via online meetings and all procedures are almost completed,” said Deputy Director of the MARD's Department of Livestock Breeding Nguyen Van Trong.

Trong noted that Vietnamese bird’s nests eligible for export could meet one third of the demand in the Chinese market, opening huge opportunities for this multi-million-dollar industry.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien, procedures needed to export Vietnamese bird’s nest to China is nearly completed and Vietnam is scheduled to ship its first batch of the product to China, the world’s largest bird’s nest consumption market in the first quarter of 2021.

Although bird’s nests are a specialty of high economic value in Vietnam and is one of the 10 most expensive dishes in the world, their production value remains lowand cannot be compared with traditional agricultural products, and they have yet to be classified in the group of national key products.