Deal Opens Door To Viet Nam Cattle Exports
VIET NAM - A $1 million deal has been signed to send 1000 head of live cattle from the Northern Territory to Viet Nam, with hopes that it will be the first of many shipments to the country.The one-off deal between the North Australian Cattle Company and the Khanh Hoa Trading and Investment Company will bring $1 million into the Territory's economy reports ABC News.
The Territory has long sent live cattle to Indonesia and it is hoped this deal will open up the Vietnamese market to north Australian pastoralists.
"Expanding our export industries has been a key focus of my Government and is one of the reasons the Territory has been able to withstand the impact of the global financial crisis better than other jurisdictions," Chief Minister Paul Henderson said.
The chief executive of the Territory's Livestock Exporters' Association, Adam Hill, says it is a good initiative and he is hoping it will spread some risk amongst the industry's marketplace.
"The deal is the start of spreading our markets across south-east Asia," he told ABC News.
"It's pretty well known that Indonesia takes up the majority of our market of our live cattle out of the Northern Territory and northern Australia, so it's fairly significant to try and open up new markets."
The Primary Industries Minister, Kon Vatskalis, says training about cuts of meat will be provided to Vietnamese cattle workers as part of the deal.
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