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
October 6, 2023

Vietnam’s seafood sales have continued to drop this year compared to 2022 due to low global demand, but the decline is showing signs of letting up, especially as seasonal festivals in the country – which often involve high levels of seafood trade – draw near.

Vietnam’s total seafood exports in August totaled USD 858.8 million (EUR 805.8 million), down 13 percent year over year, but the smallest monthly drop since March.

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Published on
September 20, 2023

Chinese shrimp imports may surpass 1 million metric tons (MT) this year, defying global purchasing trends and achieving growth that no other market has gotten close to reaching in 2023, according to Shrimp Insights Founder Willem van der Pijl.

Between the second half of 2022 and June of this year, China imported around 1 million MT of shrimp, split nearly evenly through every six months. This statistic, combined with the fact that the

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Published on
September 18, 2023

Grobest, CP Foods, and Skretting are competing for market share in Vietnam through the propagation of proprietary shrimp-farming systems.

During the 2023 Shrimp Summit, hosted by The Center for Responsible Seafood in Ho Chi Minh City from 24 to 26 July, the multinational shrimp feed manufacturers, which are dominant players in Vietnam’s shrimp feed sector, competed to sell farmers the benefits of their models.

Besides being a major

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Published on
September 11, 2023

The global shrimp industry is confronting various challenges, including falling prices and demand coupled with a rise in feed and production costs. 

To survive, Charoen Pokphand Foods Executive Vice President is urging his peers to “go back to the fundamentals.”

McIntosh, who also serves as CEO of Homegrown Shrimp USA, CP Foods’ recirculating aquaculture system shrimp farm in the U.S. state of Florida, was honored with the

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Published on
September 5, 2023

A new Indonesian government regulation that forces exporters to deposit part of their earnings in a government-controlled bank account is another blow to the nation’s shrimp exporters and processors, who are already suffering from a global demand slump and rising feed and production costs.

The regulation requires exporters sending cargo with a value of USD 250,000 (EUR 232,000) or more to deposit at least 30 percent of their earnings for a

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Published on
September 5, 2023

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has upheld antidumping tariffs on frozen warmwater shrimp exports from two Indian companies and slightly increased the rate for all others after finalizing an administrative review.

The U.S. imposes antidumping rates on foreign shrimp imports believed to be priced below fair market value in an attempt to bolster domestic production.

The DOC’s 17th administrative review, the preliminary results of which

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Published on
August 15, 2023

To combat falling global demand for shrimp, prominent industry players are pushing for a collaborative marketing campaign to boost consumption.

The strategies and logistics of establishing a unified global marketing campaign were at the forefront of discussions at the 2023 Shrimp Summit, held by The Center for Responsible Seafood in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City from 24 to 26 July.

A 26 July panel brought together representatives from the

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Published on
August 8, 2023

Following record highs in net profit and sales in the third quarter of 2022, Thai Union has posted drops in its net profit for three straight quarters, including in the second quarter of 2023, despite improved performance from Red Lobster, its global restaurant chain.

The Bangkok-based seafood producer earned a net profit of THB 1 billion (USD 28.6 million, EUR 26.1 million) between April and June – down 36.7 percent year over year –

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Published on
July 26, 2023

Speaking at The Center for Responsible Seafood’s 2023 Shrimp Summit in Vietnam on 25 July, Minh Phu CEO Le Van Quang said his company’s shrimp sales have shown signs of improvement recently.

Minh Phu reported a loss of VND 95 billion (USD 4 million, EUR 3.6 million) in the first quarter of this year, its first Q1 loss in seven years.

Quang said at an annual stakeholders meeting in June that sales would continue to fall through the

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Published on
July 20, 2023

Vietnam's shrimp industry is concerned about falling behind Ecuador and India, as longstanding internal weaknesses continue to plague its progress.

Reduced global demand and increased competition from Ecuador and India, which offer lower-priced shrimp, are taking a toll on Vietnam's shrimp industry. Between January and May 2023, Vietnam exported shrimp worth USD 1.2 billion (EUR 1.07 billion), a 34 percent year-over-year decline. In May, sales

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