A shipment of around 14,000 cattle from Brazil to Vietnam arrived at the port of Thi Vai on September 23, raising concerns in the Australian livestock industry as Vietnam is Australia's second largest buyer of live cattle. This comes at a difficult time for the Brazilian livestock industry as China has closed its purchases due to two cases of 'mad cow' in Brazil. However, the Vietnamese have responded and switched to a single port unloading. The competitive pricing of the Brazilian cattle could impact the Australian cattle industry, which is currently under pressure due to the high price of its cattle. Colombia is also looking at the Vietnamese market as a potential customer for its live cattle, despite not having an established protocol with Vietnam for such sales.