Will increased requirements make it difficult for businesses?
After 3 years of opening market with clean bird's nest, on April 15, Vietnam and China signed a Protocol approving raw bird's nest. This opens up great opportunities for Vietnamese bird's nest industry in this billion-dollar market.
According to Ms. Tran Thi Thu Phuong - Head of International Cooperation and Communications Department, Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), compared to the 2022 version, 2025 Protocol has added two virus indicators: avian influenza and Newcastle.
Accordingly, bird's nest exported to China must be processed to achieve a core temperature of the product not lower than 70 degrees Celsius and maintained for at least 3.6 seconds to ensure effective killing of avian influenza and Newcastle viruses. In addition, the market also requires aluminum index to be below 100 mg/kg of raw sample.
China's inclusion of this indicator is due to phenomenon of businesses using bleach and aluminum is an ingredient in this bleach. Application of this indicator is not only in Vietnam but also in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Speaking to reporters of Industry and Trade Newspaper, Mr. Hong Dinh Khoa, Chairman of Board of Directors of Vietnam Quoc Yen Joint Stock Company - Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Bird's Nest Association - said that the new decree with higher requirements. Along with that, loosening of business responsibilities has helped businesses exporting bird's nests to the Chinese market to be more comfortable.
"China has removed requirement for a certificate of origin and only requires an animal quarantine certificate. This reduces one step of procedure, thereby reducing time and costs for businesses, but it also means that Vietnam must take greater responsibility in tracing origin and monitoring diseases right from the input stage", Mr. Hong Dinh Khoa emphasized.
Talking about aluminum index, Mr. Hong Dinh Khoa informed that in the past 2 years, although export market did not require it, businesses still proactively tested for this index.
“Previously, when aluminum index was not added, exporting enterprises were also worried about risks. Because when goods were exported, if they tested and found high aluminum content, goods would still be returned. Therefore, regulation from the beginning allows enterprises to be proactive, this will create peace of mind in exporting,” Mr. Hong Dinh Khoa shared and said that just by improving white tone of the bird’s nest, value can increase by millions of VND per nest. This requires upgrading technology, sophistication in processing and understanding market tastes.
More competitors in Chinese market
China is currently the largest bird’s nest consumer market, accounting for 80% of consumption worldwide. In context of an open market, strict compliance with technical conditions is non-negotiable. Therefore, the remaining problem depends largely on enterprises in proactively reviewing the entire production and export chain.
Speaking to reporters of Industry and Trade Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen The Hoa - Deputy Director of Hai Yen Nha Trang Trading Company Limited - said that signing of Protocol on exporting raw bird's nests will bring both opportunities and challenges to the Vietnamese bird's nest industry. Chinese enterprises can import raw bird's nest products, then process them into clean bird's nest products and compete directly with clean bird's nest products from Vietnam in this market.
However, currently only Malaysia is allowed to export raw bird's nests to Chinese market, while Indonesia and Thailand are not allowed to export raw bird's nests. Amount of Indonesian bird's nests exported is also limited. Therefore, opening market for exporting raw bird's nests will also create advantages for Vietnamese enterprises.
"Currently, clean bird's nest products are allowed to be exported to the Chinese market, but their competitiveness is low compared to products from Indonesia and Malaysia. Therefore, exporting raw bird's nests to Chinese market will also be an advantage, contributing to the bird's nest industry exporting more", Mr. Nguyen The Hoa informed.
According to Mr. Hong Dinh Khoa, although raw bird's nest export market is very good, currently, in the entire vast country of China, only a few businesses have the need to buy raw bird's nest. Thus, 3 countries (Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia) but only sell to a few Chinese businesses.
Meanwhile, to be able to officially export raw bird's nest to Chinese market, businesses must meet strict requirements of this market. Businesses will also have to build their own raw bird's nest export code and cannot use the old code of clean bird's nest for export. Businesses will also have to redo the process of classifying, packaging, heat treating, and storing goods before exporting to meet requirements of Chinese market.
However, what businesses are wondering is that currently, only a few Chinese businesses have need to buy raw bird's nest. Familiar with making clean bird's nest. Therefore, businesses are also considering problem of choosing the raw bird's nest segment or making clean bird's nest.
Chinese market has been accustomed to using bird’s nests from countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, etc. for a long time. Of which, Indonesia and Malaysia are two main countries exporting to Chinese market. Enterprises from your country have high recognition and have great competition in terms of price in the story of exporting bird’s nests to the Chinese market.
Notably, Cambodia recently reached an agreement to export raw and processed bird's nests to China. Currently, it is estimated that Cambodia has about 3,000 - 3,500 bird's nest houses operating in many areas. However, only about 700 of them are officially registered with Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Thus, along with Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnamese bird's nests also have to compete with Cambodian bird's nests. However, with great potential from Chinese market and increasing consumer demand for bird's nest products, Vietnam is facing opportunity to make a strong breakthrough if it knows how to seize opportunity and organize production in a methodical, standardized and traceable manner.
On side of bird's nest processing and exporting enterprises, it is necessary to increase processing capacity and expand links with strategic partners from related programs and activities. At the same time, it is necessary to create many different product segments to meet market demand. In addition, it is necessary to form a connection between products with brand name 'Vietnamese bird's nest' for local customers. Working together to build a sustainable Vietnamese business community will contribute to the development of Vietnamese bird's nest industry in this billion-people market.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn