Vietnam opens doors to Canadian livestock

Ottawa, Ont. – Canadian producers of live breeding cattle, sheep and goats now have access to the Vietnamese market, estimated to be worth approximately $50 million. Access to this market will represent the first commercially significant sales of these Canadian livestock in Asia for almost a decade.

Since 2003 Vietnam has banned imports of Canadian beef and live cattle, following a case of BSE in Canada. Canadian beef was eventually allowed in the market in 2010. Now, Vietnam’s Department of Animal Health has formally approved the Canadian export health certificates for live cattle, sheep and goats, meaning that trade in these livestock can resume immediately.

The move also opens the market for all Canadian beef products, beef offal, bovine semen and embryos, ovine semen and embryos, and caprine semen and embryos.