Vietnam poised to become world’s leading seafood processing centre

Workers process pangasius at a factory of Sao Mai Group in Vam Cong Industrial Zone, Lap Vo district, Dong Thap province. (Photo: VNA)

The growth of processed seafood output in Vietnam will reach over 6 percent a year by 2030 under a national seafood processing development strategy for 2021-2030 which has been approved by the Prime Minister.

The strategy aims at turning Vietnam into a seafood processing centre and join the top five seafood processing countries in the world by 2030. It also strives to develop a modern, efficient and sustainable seafood processing industry, meeting the demands of consumption markets, improving its competitiveness and integrating deeply into the global value chain.

Under the strategy, value-added processed products will account for over 40 percent of total export value of seafood.

At least 70 percent of seafood processing establishments will have production technology from medium to advanced levels.

The strategy also sets a goal that by 2030, the value of seafood processing for domestic consumption reach 40 - 45 trillion VND (1.7-1.9 billion USD), besides an export value of seafood of 14-16 billion USD.

A number of modern seafood processing corporations with economic potential and management on par with the world level will be established at the same time.

To realise these goals, the strategy has set forth some tasks including the development and management of the production of raw materials for seafood processing to meet the demand of enterprises and in line with the requirements of domestic consumption and export.

Compliance with both domestic regulations and international practices and requirements including traceability and origin is also a must.

It is necessary to attract investment to form big seafood processing corporations which have economic potential and business administration on par with the world level and upgrade technology and capacity of seafood processing facilities for export.

The production chain should be restructured to improve the economic efficiency and competitiveness of processed seafood products./.