Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore said that Singapore has limited land funds (only about 730km2), much smaller than countries with dairy farming industries, mainly using land funds to develop housing and high-tech industrial infrastructure. The country's agricultural land area accounts for only 1% of the country's land area and is largely prioritized for vegetable, fish and egg production because these products can be developed in direction of urban agriculture or high technology.
Singapore's climate is not diverse, with low temperature fluctuations, lots of rain and hot and humid weather all year round, so it is not ideal for raising dairy cows, which are suitable for a cool, dry temperate climate.
For above reasons, developing the dairy industry in Singapore is considered costly, low-yielding and not economically efficient. In fact, Singapore imports over 90% of its domestic food consumption in general and milk and dairy products in particular. According to calculations based on data from the International Trade Information System (UNComtrade), it can be seen that in the period 2019 - 2023, Singapore imported an average of 300 thousand tons of milk and dairy products per year (equivalent to about 900 million USD/year in value), of which domestic consumption is estimated at about 245 thousand tonnes/year (equivalent to about 670 million USD/year), the rest is re-exported to other markets.
During the period 2019 - 2023, Singapore imported an average of about 2.5 million USD/year in value (equivalent to about 344 tonnes/year) of milk and dairy products from Vietnam. In the opposite direction, Singapore also exported milk and dairy products to Vietnam with an average value of about 7.4 million USD/year (equivalent to about 2,100 tonnes).
However, in general, bilateral trade in milk and dairy products between Singapore and Vietnam has not really shown stability. While Singapore's exports to Vietnam tend to decrease in both value and volume, imports from Vietnam are temporarily maintained in value but are also decreasing in volume.
In terms of types, in a period of 2019 - 2023, Singapore's imports of milk and dairy products from Vietnam emerged in group 040630 (processed cheese except grated/powdered cheese) with outstanding value, over 2.3 million USD/year. In addition to this group, there are currently only 3 other groups with a turnover of over 10 thousand USD and notably group 040490 (other products with natural milk ingredients...). Group 040120 (milk and cream, not concentrated, without added sugar, without added sweeteners, with a milk fat content of over 1% to a maximum of 6%) and group 040299 (milk and cream in other forms, with added sweeteners). Therefore, group 040630 can be considered the group with the most potential for development, on the basis that this group is also in the Top 4 of Singapore's dairy products exported to the world and Vietnam is currently the 7th supplier of group 040630 to the Singapore market (after 6 major partners: Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, the United States, and the United Kingdom).
The data also shows that group 040221 (milk and milk cream in solid form, without added sweeteners, with a milk fat content of over 1.5%) is the group that Singapore mainly exchanges with the world, but almost does not import this group from Vietnam, but exports this group to Vietnam with a value in 2023 reaching over 2.3 million USD, accounting for more than half of the total export value of milk and dairy products from Singapore to Vietnam in 2023 (4.2 million USD).
Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore added that Singapore is a market with high standards. Although it does not develop the dairy and dairy products industry, Singapore has very clear and strict regulations on managing the quality of dairy products.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn