HAGL, Vissan unveil new Aussie beef

Van Duc Muoi of Vissan and Doan Nguyen Duc (R) of HAGL open a large refrigerator containing beef from the cows supplied by HAGL - PHOTO: TL

Vissan plans to retail beef from 2,000 cows supplied by HAGL between now and the week-long Lunar New Year holiday (Tet), which begins on February 19.

HAGL chairman Doan Nguyen Duc told the introduction ceremony for the beef in HCMC on February 5 that the company imported Australian cows of 18 months old and weighing 200-250 kilograms for breeding at the company’s farms in Gia Lai Province of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia until they grow to 500-550 kilograms for supply to Vissan.

Van Duc Muoi, general director of Vissan, said the beef is retailed for about VND320,000 a kilogram and is available for purchase at the company’s shops as well as the supermarkets of Saigon Co.op and Satra. The company offers a discount of VND8,000 a kilogram until February 25.

Muoi said the national demand for beef is estimated at 3,000-4,000 cows a day, including 600 cows for HCMC, and local food processing companies have to import around one million cows to meet the demand due to scarce supply on the domestic market.

Vissan has stopped buying imported cows since it got the cattle from HAGL. Muoi said the cooperation with HAGL will help Vissan partly meet the demand for quality beef in this market in the coming time.

Duc said HAGL plans to increase its cow herd to 100,000 head this year and 200,000 next year.

“We have invested in many sectors and found out that breeding cows brings us more profit. So we will focus more resources on cow breeding projects,” Duc said.

HAGL has plans to import breeder cows from Australia and the United States to produce calves in Vietnam. “We expect to have the first batches of calves in Vietnam in 2017,” Duc said.

In June last year, HAGL, Vissan and nutrition firm Nutifood clinched an agreement to cooperate in a cow farming and milk processing program worth at least VND11 trillion (around US$520). The sum includes VND6.3 trillion for a dairy farming project invested by HAGL and some VND5 trillion for a milk processing project by Nutifood.

At the signing ceremony, HAGL said it planned to breed more than 230,000 cows on its farms in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, including 120,000 dairy cows imported from Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. and the rest from Thailand and Australia.