Thanks to a public-private effort and the perseverance and hard work of producing and exporting companies, the Chilean pork and poultry industries are now authorized to sell their products in more than 60 markets. As part of the push to keep diversifying the destinations for the Chilean exporting offer, for the last 10 years efforts have been especially focused on opening new markets in Asia.
Because of this, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia are currently positioned as very attractive markets for Chilean white meat exports to that continent. While exports to the Philippines began in 2021, a strategy for Vietnam is being prepared with industry actors to obtain the animal health opening, hopefully this year.
Rodrigo Castañón, Business Manager of the Chilean Meat Exporters’ Association, ChileCarne, explains that a joint strategy for those ASEAN markets is being prepared with the Ministry of Agriculture (Minagri), the Undersecretariat for International Economic Affairs (SUBREI), and the Chilean Agricultural Attaché to ASEAN with the aim of diversifying the offer and reducing dependence on the Asian giants: “opening up to other markets is part of the strategy to place Chile’s offer in other emerging economies and also complement other relevant markets in Asia,” he said.
Castañón also explained that the first step was to prioritize. In this sense, the Philippines is a market that imported almost 495 million USD of pork in 2019, while Vietnam imported 85 million USD that same year. Meanwhile, Thailand and Indonesia imported 24.5 million and 4.3 million USD, respectively.
In the case of the Philippines, there is no Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in place with Chile. However, two audits were conducted by the health authority in May 2020 and the first pork exports there started in 2021.
Another appealing market for the Chilean pork industry is Vietnam. The average Vietnamese consumer eats about 38 kg of pork and 12 kg of poultry every year.
“We have had an FTA in place with Vietnam since 2009; however, we have not been able to fully move forward. We are working with representatives from the industry to find new strategies and actions that will allow us to obtain the animal health opening. We are also contacting local importers to work from different angles to be able to successfully export to Vietnam,” said Castañón.
Thailand and Indonesia, two promising emerging economies
These two markets are also attractive for the industry and help achieve the diversification goal of Chilean pork exports.
The pork industry is working with the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) to complete all documents required by Thailand. According to Rodrigo Castañón, “we are optimistic that in the coming months the agreements will be finalized and we will be exporting our product offer to that country as soon as possible.”
