Foreign customers learn about and trace the origin of Vietnam's exported shrimp. Photo: T.H.

Focus on the domestic market

Currently, Vietnamese seafood enterprises have focused on investing in products to develop the domestic market.

According to businesses, while the world market is increasingly difficult, the potential of the domestic market is still very large. In order to balance supply and demand and reduce dependence on the export market, seafood enterprises have gradually turned to developing the domestic market, bringing exported seafood products to Vietnamese consumers.

Currently, the Vietnamese seafood industry has a high level of processing with many products that bring high added value. Many businesses have invested in technology and equipment to increase processed products and value-added products. In particular, many high value-added products such as cooking oil, collagen, gelatin... have been developed thanks to the circular economy and green economy.

Mr. Ha Thanh, Nam Viet Group (NAVICO) said that Navico is one of the leading seafood processing company in Vietnam, with a production capacity of more than 450 tons of pangasius raw material per day.

To take advantage of pangasius raw materials, Navico has cooperated with Amicogen (South Korea) to invest in a project to extract collagen and gelatin from pangasius.

This is part of NAVICO's large-scale closed production system chain complex and is also a strategic project in the plan to transform the production structure from basic products to value-added products with high technical content, bringing many values ​​and benefits to society... of this group. After exporting collagen products to South Korea, NAVICO is cooperating with domestic supermarkets to expand its distribution market share in Vietnam. Currently, the company is promoting research activities on value-added products and launching new products to the market; implement phase 2 of the collagen factory, promote the operation of finished collagen distribution channels.

To achieve the goal of expanding domestic market share, at the international seafood exhibition last weekend, Vietnamese seafood enterprises promoted hundreds of their export products to domestic consumers, with the ambition of bringing export products from around the world to the domestic market, contributing to the rapid growth of Vietnam's potential food industry.

Take advantage in the second half of the year

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietnam is currently ranked among the countries with high competitiveness and capacity in the seafood industry. In the context of increasingly deep integration into the world economy, Vietnam's trade in general and the seafood industry in particular have had more favorable opportunities for businesses to boost production and increase exports. However, the seafood industry also faces a series of new challenges in both export markets and internal problems of the industry.

This is the reason why many seafood enterprises have promptly adjusted their production and business strategies to improve export efficiency to key markets. According to VASEP, the export opportunities in the second half of this year are huge. As our country is benefiting from the wave of shifting orders from the US and the advantages of boosting exports to the Chinese market. Along with that, freight rates have also tended to decrease compared to the beginning of 2024, which will reduce costs, businesses are focusing on year-end orders.

Mr. Tran Anh Khoa, General Director of Anh Khoa Company Limited, shared that orders in the last months of this year increased significantly compared to the same period last year from 10 to 15 percent. Currently, many foreign customers have placed orders with Anh Khoa Seafood, so the company has prepared raw materials and increased production time to serve all orders at the end of this year.

At the international seafood exhibition last weekend in Ho Chi Minh City, many seafood business leaders directly introduced their products and discussed directly with partners.

Ms. Truong Thi Le Khanh, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Vinh Hoan Joint Stock Company, said that in addition to traditional products, the company is currently focusing on deeply processed products for export. With this direction, in the first month of 2024, the company's business was quite good with revenue reaching VND921 billion, an increase of 102 percent compared to the same period last year and an increase of 13 percent compared to December 2023.

All major markets of this pangasius exporting enterprise recorded good recovery. In particular, revenue in the Chinese, American, and European markets increased by 259 percent, 59 percent, and 33 percent respectively compared to January 2023.

Thanks to deep-processed products, in the first five months of 2024, Vinh Hoan's total revenue reached VND5,033 billion, of which pangasius products reached VND2,696 billion, accounting for 53 percent.

However, according to VASEP leaders, the recovery of seafood exports will continue to face many difficulties in the remaining time of 2024. In order to achieve the target of seafood exports of US$ 10 billion in 2024 and US$ 12 billion in 2030, businesses need to adapt and adjust their operating plans to suit the market context, businesses need to diversify export markets, avoiding dependence on a few markets. At the same time, increase exports to new markets, aiming to expand and promote the development of the domestic market.