While Vietnam’s demand for beef keeps rising robustly over the last few years, its cow herd has steadily shrunk during the same period, sending the country to increase its meat imports to meet demand as local investors are hesitant to jump in what they deem an unprofitable industry.

Cow imports are on the rise as local demand is soaring against the shrinking cattle herd, according to beef traders.

Another factor is that imported cows are cheaper than locally raised animals, they added.

In the year to date, the Animal Health Agency Zone VI has cleared customs for more than 22,000 cows imported from Australia. The average cow imported every month in these two months and a half has more than doubled that of a year earlier, the agency, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said.

This is not to mention the frozen beef and thousands of cows brought to Vietnam across the borders with Laos and Cambodia.

In 2007, the country’s cow herd totaled nearly 7 million, but the figure dropped dramatically to below 5 million today, said Nguyen Dang Vang, chairman of the Vietnam Husbandry Association.

Last year the country produced only 285,000 tons of beef, down from the 293,000 a year earlier, the association said.

These reductions have led the country to import 162,000 cows, with 66,000 coming from Australia.

“In 2013 Vietnam imported 56,000 tons of cow, or 16 percent of the country’s total beef consumption,” Vang said, adding the figure will continue to rise in the coming time.

Much room left

There is much room left in the cow raising industry for investors, but not so many are interested.

Nguyen Van Ngoc, a farmer in southern Dong Nai Province, said he had planned to switch from raising chickens to cows, but eventually had a second thought, reckoning that it would not be a wise investment.

“You have to buy cows at VND130,000 a kg to start your herd, but the animals will fetch only VND60,000 a kg when you are selling them,” he said.

Meanowhile, Tong Xuan Chinh, an official from the Animal Husbandry Department, said farmers have to spare a large area in their farms to grow grass to feed the cows. The standard area is one hectare per cow, he said, citing examples from Australia, New Zealand, and the US.

“We have a limited area of land plots suitable for that purpose, so cow farms cannot just be established anywhere we want,” he concluded.