Australian live animal exports to Vietnam have risen sharply in recent years as a growing middle classes in Vietnam and China demand more red meat.
The sustainability of Australian live exports to Vietnam is being debated this week after reports of inhumane practices at a Vietnamese slaughterhouse emerged.
Vietnam is importing more Australian live cattle than ever before, with 131,367 head touching Vietnamese shores in 2013-14, up from just 1,441 head three years earlier.
The explosion in cattle imports to Vietnam has made Vietnam the second largest importer of Australian live cattle after Indonesia in terms of volume, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) says.
The growth in Vietnamese demand for Australian cattle has to do with the changing fortunes of people in Vietnam and China, Australian Livestock Exporters' Council Alison Penfold said.
“There’s a growing demand for red meat - a growing middle class leads to consumption of red meat,” Ms Penfold said.
This demand within Vietnam is made greater by China, which is buying Vietnamese cattle for its own market, while Australian cattle are filling the space in Vietnam’s domestic market.
In 2013-14 China was the second largest importer of Australian live cattle in terms of money spent. China imports mostly dairy cattle, which command a higher price than the "slaughter" and "feeder" cattle that Vietnam buys, the MLA's 2013-14 report says.
Vietnam has historically been an importer of slaughtered Australian beef products, but Ms Penfold said Vietnam was importing more live cattle to build its domestic food processing industry.
As a result, Vietnam demands more unprocessed food, she said.
Vietnam imported 0.27 per cent of Australian slaughtered, (fresh, chilled or frozen) beef products in 2014, compared with 11 per cent of all Australian live exports, which includes cattle.
Vietnam is becoming an increasingly important trading partner for Australia generally, with an expanding proportion of Australian goods exported to Vietnam.
The recent reports of the inhumane treatment of cattle in Vietnam has sparked calls from the Greens for a halt to Australia's live exports.
“This shocking report again highlights that the welfare of stock exported from Australia cannot be controlled from a desk in Canberra,” Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon said.
Ms Penfold said suggestions to ban live exports were not feasible, since countries wanted their own live beef for cultural and developmental reasons.
In 2011, after images of cruelty to Australian cattle emerged from Indonesia, the Australian government banned live exports to Indonesia for six months.
The industry had progressed since then, Ms Penfold said.
"Like all these things we investigate it and we decide if we need to take action," he said.
"But we won't be suspending the whole trade," he told ABC radio on Wednesday.
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