Vietnamese pangasius producer and processor Vinh Hoan Corporation will invest in its recently-acquired Thanh Binh Dong Thap Fisheries plant in late 2017 and early 2018, to raise its capacity by 15%, Vinh Hoan CEO Nguyen Ngo Vi Tam told Undercurrent News.
Thanh Binh’s assets include one filleting workshop, utilized at 50t/day when first bought, and a second not currently operating. The first workshop has design capacity of 200t/day, and Vinh Hoan expects it can reach 150t/day by the end of 2017.
The site, which is close to another of Vinh Hoan’s existing sites, will be refurbished to act as another filleting plant.
At the same time the company will invest to increase its self-sufficiency to 60% of its raw material needs, as well as spending to gain the necessary Aquaculture Stewardship Council certifications, said Tam.
Vinh Hoan recently became the first company to gain an ASC certificate for a smallholding farmer it works with, Esther Luiten of ASC had noted earlier during the Brussels show, during an ASC presentation.
The pangasius firm is working to achieve 100% certification across its raw material by 2020, Tam added.
However, it would like to see the ASC working to give more meaning to just what the certification means in terms of beneficial impacts on the ground in Vietnam, when it is marketing its label in Europe, she said.
(Source: undercurrentnews)