Toan Dao

Contributing Editor reporting from Hanoi, Vietnam

Toan Dao has written about Vietnam’s business community, with a focus on energy and agriculture, for a number of Vietnamese and international outlets for more than 10 years. As a contributing editor for SeafoodSource in Southeast Asia, he also covers other major seafood producers in the region including Indonesia and Thailand.


Author Archive

Published on
November 1, 2022

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent a letter to Thai Union notifying it of committing violations of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulations at its tuna-processing factory in Samut Sakhon, Thailand.

The warning was issued on 20 April, 2022, following a remote assessment of Thai Union’s tuna processing facility in Samut Sakhon conducted by the FDA in January 2022.

In its letter, the FDA said it

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Published on
October 31, 2022

The European Commission is planning to conduct another inspection to check Vietnam’s progress in combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

E.C. Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE) IUU Fisheries Policy Unit Head Roberto Cesari was in Vietnam on 28 October, wrapping up the most-recent site visit, when he announced his team would be returning within six months for a follow-up appointment.

Vietnam

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Published on
October 26, 2022

Vietnam has seen its seafood exports and sales fall to their lowest levels in seven months as high inflation in major markets has led to reduced global consumption.

Vietnam's exporters began to feel the brunt of the global inflationary crisis more clearly in September, as sales plunged and customers suspended deliveries. Vietnam’s seafood export value in September was USD 862.8 million (EUR 878.5 million), down 13.7 percent from August,

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Published on
October 24, 2022

The Philippines’ seafood sector is expressing concern about an increase in fish imports from China affecting the livelihoods of local fishers.

The Philippines has imported an average of 20 containers of fish from China weekly over the past month, according to The Manila TimesAssociation of Fresh Fish Traders of the Philippines President Roderick Santos said the Chinese imports are being sold in the country's

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Published on
October 19, 2022

Singapore-based Barramundi Group has appointed James Kwan as CEO following the resignation of Andreas von Scholten. The appointment will take effect from the beginning of 2023.

Andreas von Scholten, who has been the company’s CEO since November 2019, will join Barramundi’s board and work as a director effective 1 January, 2023.

“I thank the board for the trust placed in me to lead the company at a juncture where it is

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Published on
October 17, 2022

Thai Union announced on 17 October it will allocate shares of its petcare subsidiary, i-Tail Corporation Public Company Limited (ITC), to Thai Union’s shareholders as part of an initial public offering (IPO) of the ITC.

ITC got approval from Thailand’s Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission for its IPO on 20 September. According to the plan of the IPO, 660 million ordinary shares of ITC, including …

Photo courtesy

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Published on
October 14, 2022

Ca Mau Province, Vietnam-based seafood company Cadovimex is aiming to finalize bankruptcy proceedings later this year due to heavy losses.

Cadovimex is an exporter of shrimp, pangasius, squid, and octopus, but suffered in the 2008 financial crisis.  A long-term capital misappropriation of VND 175 billion (USD 7.2 million, EUR 7.4 million), which the company never recovered, hampered its operations …

Photo courtesy of

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Published on
October 13, 2022

Shrimp farming in Khulna, Bangladesh, the Asian country's shrimp-producing hub, has become harder due to climate change, worrying local producers and exporters.

The lower production has resulted in Khulna's shrimp production declining by 21.7 percent year-on-year to 33,271 metric tons (MT) in fiscal year 2021-2022.

Local producers are blaming climate change, with fluctuations in salinity levels caused by changes in natural high tides

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Published on
October 12, 2022

A shift back to black tiger shrimp farming, and away from vannamei – which is becoming more prone to disease and more costly to farm – is under way in Asia. But whether the market is willing to consume the increased volume, at higher price levels, remains a question.

One of the main themes discussed at the inaugural Global Shrimp Forum (GSF) – which took place in Utrecht, The Netherlands, from 6 to 8 September – was the

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Published on
October 12, 2022

Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health has issued a warning against a certain volume of fresh and frozen shrimp imported from India and has decided to recall the affected quantity from the market, Gulf Times reported on 8 October.

Analyses at Qatar’s food laboratories have reportedly found that some volumes of Indian imported shrimp are microbially contaminated, according to a statement from the ministry.

The public health ministry is

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