Salangane nest market flooded with low-quality imports

Besides collecting salangane nests in the wild, Vietnam has organized salangane farming. There are 5,000 salangane houses in 36 provinces and cities with 6 million salanganes.

Salangane nests are praised as a ‘miracle drug’ which improves human health. Vietnam’s salangane nests are recognized as the best in the world.

Khanh Hoa province is the capital of Vietnam’s salangane products, where there are 90 salangane houses. While Vietnam’s salangane quality is high, the output is low. 

Vietnam can obtain 10 tons of salangage nests every year, much lower than Indonesia (100 tons), Malaysia (70 tons) and Thailand (60 tons).

Vietnam has great advantages in salangane exploitation with a long coastline of over 4,000 kilometers and hundreds of islands where salanganes live.

Farmers don’t have to spend too much time and money to raise salanganes, while they can earn huge money from the birds. Salanganes eat insects in the wild. Therefore, one just needs to build houses, attract salanganes to the houses and collect their nests. One kilogram of salangane nest is priced at tens of millions of dong. 

This explains why the number of salangane nests has increased so rapidly. There were 2,000 houses in 2013, while the figure rose to 5,000 in late 2016. 

However, only six out of 36 provinces/cities have salangane development programs and apply high technology in farming.

According to an expert, salangane nests can be served as food and used in drug and cosmetics manufacturing. The global salangane product market is worth US$6 billion.

High-quality products are priced at US$1,300-1,500 per kilo, and low-quality US$230-250 per kilo. High-quality products from salangane farming countries are mostly exported to China, while low-quality is sent to Vietnam.

Salangane products are imported by Vietnam in large quantities through both official and unofficial channels. Even products with protein content of 30% are to Vietnam.

The imports go to HCMC first, where they go to processing factories and are turned into ‘made-in-Vietnam high-quality salangane products’. 

A source estimates that Vietnam imports 20 tons of salangane a year, worth US$4.5-5 million. 

Experts have warned that though salangane nests are nutritious, low-quality products with unclear sources could be a breeding environment for bacteria and microorganisms to develop and spread in the community.

The current situation is expected to improve as MARD has shown determination to reorganize the production and the salangane nest market. 

Experts estimate that if the production can be organized well, Vietnam can export salangane products from 2020. The exports could bring US$300 million a year after 2030.