Globally, the turnover of bird nest has reached 6-7 billion USD with the growth rate of 7.2% annually. Recent years, swiftlet farming in Vietnam has become a movement spreading over the country. To what extent, this “white gold” market is really is?

Compared to other countries, Vietnamese bird nest is produced with low cost but considerably the best quality among Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand due to the favorable weather and low level of industrialization to neighboring countries. Moreover, the demand of bird nest exceeds far more on the supply due to resources constraint.

Experts believe that Vietnamese bird nest has better pricing compared to neighboring countries, for that reason, companies have invested heavily in the swiftlet industry. Vietnamese bird nest is currently about USD2,000 to USD2,500 per kg, twice the price of Malaysia bird nest but not enough supply, especially to Hongkong market. However, the output of Vietnamese bird nest is only 10 tons annually, accountable for 10% of the production in the area. Therefore, companies are trying to maximize the production by utilizing every resource.

In Southeast Asia, swiftlet farming is not only agriculture but also emerging industry. According to the un-official statistic, the revenue of bird nest in 2006 is about 3.8 billion USD, 4.3 billion USD in 2008. To FAO, the demand for bird nest exceeds far more the supply with the value of 6 to 7 billion USD and 10 billion USD in 2012. This is huge opportunity for South East Asia countries including Vietnam.

Source: some references and web http://doanhnhansaigon.vn