Tien Giang province to strengthen seafood and pangasius export

Tien Giang possesses many advantages and competitiveness in pangasius export. Tien Giang-based large pangasius companies are equipped with modern technologies which helped them to meet quality requirements to export products to the U.S. and the EU markets.

Pangasius is currently a source of high quality food with reasonable price and a large range of over 100 consumer markets. The fish brings back to Tien Giang huge annual revenue, creating jobs for many local workers and fish farmers.

In 2012, seafood sales abroad reached US$450 million, accounting for nearly half of the province’s total earnings from exports. 80 percent of which were from pangasius products. Between January and June 2013, Tien Giang exported seafood, mainly pangasius products, to generate more than US$145 million of value.

Leading pangasius companies in the province have been investing into a more-closed production chain, including fingerling production, large-scale fish farming, feed mills and fish processing plants.

Hung Vuong Corporation, the second largest pangasius exporter of Vietnam, has further invested in fish farms since 2010 when the company saw signs of short supply of raw fish for processing.  So far, it owns a farming area of 250 hectares of water surface and other 100 hectares in cooperation with local fish farmers. As a result, Hung Vuong Corp can supply 70 percent of its needs of raw material for processing plants. With strengths in products’ quality and markets, the company targets to reach an export value of US$200 million each year.

In 2013, Godaco Seafood Joint Stock Company (Godaco) planned to export 20,000 MT of seafood of all products and varieties to gain US$40 million of revenue, leading to VND1,000 billion of total turnover and VND100 billion of profits. In addition, the firm continues to run its new projects such as establishing cold stores of 5,000 MT, fishmeal processing plants with capacity of 10 MT per hour, fish processing with capacity of 150 MT of raw material per day. Godaco also pour money to expand overall farming area to 180 hectares. These projects cost VND400 billion totally.

According to Deputy Director of Tien Giang Department of Industry and Trade, local companies should focus on exploring the potentials of their processing facilities, improving the quality of fish fingerlings to boost production, as well as building up their own fish farms.

To solve difficulties due to quiet demand from international markets, these companies need restructurings in their finance and export markets to keep their business and consumer markets for their products.