<div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">One of them, Kingfisher, is currently targeting the pet food market as one of the ways to cope with the high costs of skipjack tuna.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">Skipjack prices hit the $2,000 (€1,490) per ton barrier last year, and have been hovering around $1,800 (€1,341) to $1,900(€1,415) per metric ton since.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">The company, owned by Japanese giant Maruha Nichiro, relies less on tuna when they produce pet food, as they add in chicken or beef into the mixture.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">This reduces the cost of production, and helps them cope with the high skipjack prices, Adisak Phunthong, Kingfisher’s purchasing manager, told IntraFish.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">While its usual canned tuna production of human food and pet food is around 50 percent each, pet food production can sometimes increase to 60 percent of their total output, Phunthong said.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">In addition, with oil prices increasing due to conflict about Iran’s nuclear plans, it will make going out to fish for tuna even more expensive, “so we have to find ways to reduce costs,” he said.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">Which is why Kingfisher is also looking to diversify and process more farmed fish like tilapia, in order to reduce reliance on tuna, he said.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">Also looking to lessen their reliance on tuna is Thai tuna giant Sea Value, the country’s second largest producer of canned tuna and part of family-owned seafood giant Wales Group.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">“Our research and development teams are always finding ways to provide new value-added products so as to use less tuna,” said Sea Value’s quality assurance manager Chutima Phothinin.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">“There are also now strict regulations on both the supply and demand side, and it has been very tough for tuna companies to cope with,” Phunthong told IntraFish.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">More customers are asking for tuna not caught using fish aggregation devices (FADs), while at the same time on the operations side, two main fishing pockets remain closed in the Western Central Pacific Ocean – a main source of supply to many Thai tuna companies, he said.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">"Raw material availability is still the number one challenge," Amanphorn Aramwattananont, vice-president of Sea Value, told IntraFish.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 15pt; margin: 6pt 0cm 0pt"><span style="font-size: 10pt">“With plans for catches from PNA fisheries to be sent to PNA countries for processing, Thai tuna companies would have less tuna to process, and it is going to affect us in the next ten years,” he said.</span></div>
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Japan continues to be one of Vietnam’s most important and stable shrimp markets. In recent years, shrimp exports to this market have fluctuated in line with Japan’s broader economic and consumption cycles, yet Japan remains a major, high-value destination with stringent standards.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In 2025, Vietnam’s tuna exports to Spain increased by 13% compared to 2024. This growth trend has continued into the first two months of 2026. According to Vietnam Customs statistics, export turnover to this market reached nearly USD 3 million in January–February 2026, up 101% year-on-year and significantly higher than the same period in 2024. This development indicates that Spain is once again becoming a notable destination for Vietnamese tuna amid strong demand for tuna raw materials and products in Europe.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The 2026 brackish water shrimp farming season in the Mekong Delta has started earlier than usual, mainly driven by positive market signals, as shrimp prices in 2025 remained high and supply was limited. Many enterprises and farms in Cần Thơ, Cà Mau, and Vĩnh Long have proactively stocked early to seize opportunities. By early 2026, stocking areas in many localities had reached a high proportion of planned targets, with intensive and high-tech farming models expanding rapidly.
(vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s tilapia exports to the United States recorded remarkable growth in 2025, opening up major opportunities while also presenting considerable challenges. The U.S. remains the largest importer of Vietnamese tilapia fillets, with export turnover reaching USD 40 million—an increase of up to 499% compared to 2024. This impressive growth reflects strong demand in the U.S. market, as supply from competing countries such as China has been constrained by tariffs and rising production costs.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Pangasius remains a strategic export commodity in Vietnam’s seafood sector. Entering 2026, the industry faces a strong need to transition from volume-based growth to a value-driven development model, with a focus on quality, food safety, and sustainability.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Following damage caused by Storm No. 13 in late 2025, brackish water shrimp farming in Gia Lai is being rapidly restored. In key farming areas such as Tuy Phước and Tuy Phước Đông, farmers are focusing on rehabilitating ponds, repairing infrastructure, and treating the environment in preparation for the 2026 crop.
(seafood.vasep.com) Facing the decline in fishery resources, Vietnam is accelerating livelihood transitions for fishermen to reduce fishing pressure and move toward sustainable development. Marine fish stocks have dropped significantly from 4.82 million tons in 2000–2005 to 3.95 million tons in 2016–2020.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s shrimp industry is entering a period of strong transformation with the emergence of various high-tech farming models, helping improve productivity and competitiveness. Over the past 5–10 years, farming practices have shifted from traditional methods to intensive and super-intensive systems, featuring lined ponds, environmental sensors, automated feeding, and data management.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) With a focus on sustainable development, high-tech application, and climate change adaptation, An Giang Province aims to maintain its brackish water shrimp production in 2026 at a level equivalent to the previous year. Specifically, output is projected to reach over 155,510 tons, serving both domestic consumption and export processing, thereby sustaining the fisheries sector’s key role in the local economic structure.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In the Mekong Delta, key pangasius farming provinces such as An Giang, Dong Thap, and Can Tho are accelerating the transition toward a circular economy model, contributing to higher product value and reduced environmental impact. Instead of focusing solely on farming and processing, the pangasius value chain is increasingly utilizing by-products and waste streams to generate added value.
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