<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) The year 2025 marked a pivotal milestone for Vietnam’s seafood industry in its restructuring process toward sustainability, transparency, and higher value creation, amid continued uncertainties in the global economic and trade environment. Prolonged inflation in major economies, the rising trend of trade protectionism, and increasingly stringent requirements related to environmental standards, traceability, and social responsibility have posed significant challenges to seafood production and exports. Nevertheless, overcoming these pressures, Vietnam’s seafood sector has gradually demonstrated its adaptability, maintained growth momentum, and laid an important foundation for the next stage of development.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Amid the increasingly evident impacts of drought and saltwater intrusion, the shrimp-rice production model in Ca Mau province continues to prove itself as a viable direction, contributing to higher farmer incomes, improved soil conditions and the promotion of ecological and sustainable agricultural development.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) The management of fishing vessels, monitoring of fishing activities, and handling of violations in the fisheries sector in Lam Dong province have continued to be implemented in a synchronized and stringent manner, contributing to raising awareness of legal compliance among fishermen and aiming to end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Can Tho’s fishery industry sustained steady growth in 2025 with total aquatic and marine output reaching nearly 783,000 tons, fulfilling 100% of the annual target. Aquaculture, capture fisheries and fishing fleet management were further strengthened, aiming for sustainable development in the coming years.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In 2025, Vietnam’s pangasius export turnover reached nearly USD 2.2 billion, up 8% year-on-year. This result indicates that pangasius exports maintained their growth momentum despite significant volatility in the global market environment. In December 2025, pangasius export value reached USD 200 million, up 10% compared to December 2024. This solid performance in the final month of the year reflects increased import demand for consumption and inventory replenishment in key markets.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In 2025, Vietnam’s tuna exports to Spain experienced significant fluctuations. According to Vietnam Customs, during the first 11 months of 2025, export turnover for the first 11 months of the year edged up by 0.3% year-on-year, reaching nearly $15 million.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son has signed Decision No. 16/QD-TTg, dated January 5, 2026, approving the implementation plan for the Vietnam-Israel Free Trade Agreement (VIFTA). Under the plan, in the coming period, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-affiliated entities and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities must institutionalize and execute tasks focused on the dissemination of information regarding VIFTA and the Israeli market; legislative and institutional development, as well as enhancing competitiveness and human resource growth...
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Beyond achieving double-digit growth, Vietnam’s fish cake and surimi exports are showing a notable year-end "inflection point": the EU his accelerating with nearly twofold growth, China & Hong Kong are rising sharply, while the largest market, South Korea, signaled a slowdown in November. According to Vietnam Customs data, export turnover of fish cake and surimi reached $327 million in the first 11 months of 2025, up 22% year-on-year; November 2025 alone accounted for $35 million, marking a 5% increase. This serves as a critical foundation for exporters to reassess market structures and competitive intensity while finalizing order strategies for 2026.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Ca Mau, widely regarded as the nation’s “shrimp capital”, continued its strong performance in 2025 as shrimp output reached nearly 600,000 tons, maintaining its position as Vietnam’s leading shrimp-producing locality.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) On December 29, 2025, at the 2025 Pangasius Industry Review Conference held in Can Tho City, the Vietnam Pangasius Association announced that fingerling prices have surged to record levels due to acute supply shortages.
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