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
The Indonesian government has confirmed traces of radioactive Cesium-137 (Cs-137) detected in shrimp products were linked to a steel factory in an industrial zone in Banten province, but said the incident has not affected the integrity of the country’s seafood supply chain or exports.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration first issued an advisory that it detected Cs-137 in a shipping container at the ports of Los Angeles, Houston,
… Read More
Vietnam has asked the U.S. to review a decision that would block imports of seafood caught from 12 Vietnamese fisheries starting 1 January 2026, saying the move threatens exports and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of the country’s fishermen and factory workers.
NOAA informed Vietnam’s Directorate of Fisheries on 26 August that the fishing methods used in several of Vietnam’s fisheries were not deemed
… Read More
The Supreme Court of the Philippines has ruled that commercial fishing vessels are allowed to operate within the nation’s nearshore municipal waters.
In response, the country’s tuna industry and environmental groups are voicing concern that the ruling could threaten international sustainability certifications and, therefore, hurt exports.
The case stems back to October 2023, when the Mercidar Fishing Corporation filed a petition that
… Read More
The U.S.’s reciprocal tariffs on many shrimp-exporting countries are realigning global supply chains and forcing major Asian producers, including Vietnam, Indonesia, and India, to rethink their strategies.
India, the largest shrimp supplier to the U.S., faces the most severe impact from the newly implemented tariffs. The nation is currently subject to a 25 percent reciprocal tariff, which could jump to 50 percent on 27 August under a new
… Read More
Vietnam’s pangasius sector has adapted well so far amid the trade disruptions thrown at it this year, with leading exporters posting high profits on the back of early export pushes and aggressive cost-cutting during the second quarter of 2025.
According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), pangasius exports in the first half of the year overall were worth just over USD 1 billion (EUR 878.5 million),
… Read More
Malaysia is pushing to strengthen its Fisheries Act in an attempt to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The Southeast Asian nation has in recent years been heavily targeted by IUU fishing, particularly by foreign vessels. Between 2020 and 2024, authorities documented 515 cases of foreign vessel intrusion in Malaysian waters, the New Straits Times reported, citing Malaysia Deputy Agriculture and Food Security Minister
… Read More
Fish stocks across the Philippines are shrinking as illegal fishing and decades of overexploitation are putting mounting pressure on the country’s marine resources.
A new analysis conducted by ocean advocacy nonprofit Oceana highlights that fish production from both commercial and municipal sectors in the Philippines has steadily declined since peaking in 2010.
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Oceana reported
… Read More
Samut Sakhon, Thailand-based food and beverage manufacturing company Thai Union reported profit growth in the second quarter of this year, even as it experienced a year-over-year sales drop in the period.
In its latest results report, the firm attributed its ability to still turn a profit amid the sales dip to strong cost discipline and improved gross margins in the face of persistent geopolitical and macroeconomic headwinds.
The company’s
… Read More
Myanmar’s seafood exports declined between April and June of this year, even as the nation shortened its annual fishing ban aimed at giving key species time to spawn.
During the period, Myanmar exported 55,900 metric tons (MT) of seafood products worth USD 64.2 million (EUR 55.3 million), marking a drop of 8.8 percent year over year by volume and 7.5 percent by value compared to the same period in 2024, according to data from
… Read More
Vietnam’s tuna export industry is under pressure as domestic raw material shortages and stricter compliance rules have eroded its competitiveness in key markets.
The pressures on the industry have intensified recently amid tightening rules on traceability and fishing practices, particularly under a governmental decree introduced last year that restricts the purchase and processing of undersized skipjack tuna. The decree, effective from May
… Read More