Vietnam's milk market, which annually grew 18-20 percent in the last few years to reach 13 trillion Vietnamese dong (817.6 million U.S. dollars) in 2005, is projected to post growth of 5-10 percent in 2006, local newspaper Youth reported Wednesday.

Vietnam has annually consumed some 200 million liters of fresh milk sold in nearly 50 trademarks in recent years, and the figure annually increases by over 20 percent, the newspaper quoted a recent survey of a market research company specializing in the foodstuff sector.

Vietnam currently has some 20 powdered milk producers and traders with nearly 250 trademarks, which make annually combined revenues of 200 million dollars. The powdered milk market has annually grown by 15-20 percent in recent years.

There are now six foreign-invested projects engaging in milk production and processing in Vietnam, of which the biggest one has registered capital of 32.2 million dollars, the newspaper said.

Vietnamese consumers prefer domestically-produced fresh milk to imported one due to price factor. Price of a box of fresh milk imported from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Malaysia is 5, 000-8,000 VND (30-50 U.S. cents) higher than a similar Vietnamese product.

Now, Vietnam imposes import taxes of 10-25 percent on material power-milk, and 30-40 percent on canned powder-milk, the newspaper said. The tariffs will be slashed in the near future, but made-in- Vietnam dairy products will still dominate the domestic market, it said.

Source: Xinhua