This could mean tweaking its current business model while streamlining its chain of custody process, Nicolas Guichoux, who heads the MSC’s Europe activities, told IntraFish.
A key focus will be on making the MSC’s Chain of Custody (CoC) process better adapted to the foodservice segment, including at wet fish counters in retailers.
“A big part of our commitment, the big work in progress at the moment, is to make our chain of custody program more adapted to restaurants and fishmongers. Most of the companies at the moment that have gone through chain of custody are in the middle of the supply chain, like wholesalers or processors,” Guichoux said.
Unlike foodservice players, retailers typically only need CoC certification for a limited range of products, since most of the products they buy are pre-packed and sold as such to consumers, Guichoux said.
“That’s what has probably slowed down our progress in the foodservice segment. Despite these differences, we have witnessed a strong uptake over the past 12 months with companies like McDonald's and Sodexo but also with schools, universities and even Michelin starred restaurants - demonstrating the increasing interest from this important sector.”
At the moment, companies who want to use the MSC logo as a consumer-facing label on a product pay a fixed fee of $250 (€192.9) to $2,000 (€1,543) a year, in addition to 0.5 percent of their net wholesale sales value to the MSC.
To encourage more companies to use the logo, the MSC is consulting at the moment with some of its commercial partners to tweak its existing logo charging structure linking it to sales discount or marketing incentives, Guichoux said.
The organization is also looking at a “much more radical changereduce its dependence on logo licensing income, he said.
However, he said: “We haven’t started the process yet.”
Expanding to China, Japan
Nearly 15,000 products worldwide are currently MSC certified, representing sales of more than $3 billion (€2.3 billion).
To increase this number, the organization will also expand its reach to markets such as China, Japan, and South Africa, the MSC said.
“The primary market objective over the next five years is to double the overall market share for MSC-certified seafood,” the organization said in an outline of its five-year plan.
“That will equate to market share of around 30-40 percent throughout advanced markets in northern Europe, a quadrupling of current market share in the US and Canada, a growing MSC market presence in Australia/New Zealand, Japan and southern Europe, and introducing the MSC concept in China and select markets in Asia.”
Already, the organization has recruited its first Asia director as parts of plans to expand in China.
In southern Europe and Japan, it said, the aim is to have “at least a dozen major corporate commitments to the MSC” by 2017.
Registered as a non-profit charity in the UK, the MSC has two main sources of income: the logo licensing scheme on the one hand, and grants and donations on the other. The former generated £6.3 million (€7.9 million/$10.2 million) in the 12 months ending at the end of March 2011, a 54 percent increase from the previous year. Income from the latter was up by 15percent the same year, to £6.45 million (€8 million/$10.4 million).
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The year 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States (1995–2025). In parallel with the nation's progress in international economic integration, bilateral seafood trade has followed a remarkably impressive growth trajectory, expanding from an initial scale of just tens of millions of US dollars to nearly $2 billion annually. This growth has positioned the United States as Vietnam’s largest seafood export market for many consecutive years.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) On December 12, 2025, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Processing and Export (VASEP) issued document 231/CV-VASEP regarding strengthening measures to combat IUU fishing and working with the Government to lift the EC's IUU yellow card warning.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Tilapia is easy to farm and provides high economic and nutritional value, making it a sought-after export commodity in many countries.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s seafood exports in the first 10 months of 2025 recorded significant progress, reaching more than USD 9.5 billion, up 15% year-on-year. This result reflects the sector’s persistent efforts amid a highly volatile market, especially policy shocks from the US Although signs of slowdown emerged in the third quarter due to countervailing taxes, key product groups still maintained strong momentum and created a foundation for full-year exports to reach USD 11 billion.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s agreement with the United States on a framework for reciprocal, fair, and balanced trade—reached during the 2025 ASEAN Summit in Malaysia—has generated strong optimism for Vietnamese exports, including tuna. Numerous positive points in the joint statement have raised high expectations for Vietnamese export goods, but turning these expectations into tangible benefits remains a long and challenging journey.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) At the conference on “Linking the Production and Consumption Chain of Ca Mau Crab 2025,” Vice Chairman of the Ca Mau Provincial People’s Committee Lê Văn Sử posed a central question: how to shift the province’s crab exports toward official trade channels, instead of relying heavily on small-scale border trade with China as currently practiced.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The whitefish market in Japan is showing a clear divergence among supplying countries, in which Vietnam continues to affirm its role as a stable and high-potential exporter. Vietnam currently ranks third after the US and Russia in whitefish export value to Japan. Thanks to tariff incentives and the ability to meet Japan’s strict standards, Vietnamese pangasius continues to record a stable and positive growth trend.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The People's Committee of Ca Mau Province has just issued a plan to expand the super-intensive, low-water-exchange, biosecure white-leg shrimp farming model (RAS-IMTA) for whiteleg shrimp farming to a scale of 1,500 hectares, aiming to develop high-tech, sustainable and environmentally friendly shrimp farming.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Sa Giang Import-Export Joint Stock Company (HNX: SGC) plans to issue over 7.1 million shares to raise nearly 465 Billion VND for Hoan Ngoc M&A Deal.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) According to Rabobank, global tilapia production is forecast to exceed 7 million tons in 2025, driven by a strong recovery in major producing countries including China, Indonesia, Egypt, Bangladesh and Vietnam. Among them, Vietnam is emerging as a potential tilapia supplier in the global supply chain, capitalizing on market fluctuations to expand production and exports.
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