Farmed fish, particularly salmon, have been called the chicken of the seafood industry because of their ready availability and versatility in value-added products, but pangasius has simply been labeled as a cheap whitefish alternative.
However, the Vietnamese pangasius industry is undergoing a sea change that will completely alter how the fish is regarded in international markets.
First of all more and more consolidation is taking place within Vietnam. This means that fewer, larger companies are being formed fully integrated so they control all aspects of production from the hatchery through to the marketing and selling of the final product
To do this, of course, requires huge investment, because “money is swimming in the ponds for eight to nine months,” as one company executive put it. But this money is now coming from investors in countries other than Vietnam, including Iceland, Thailand, the Netherlands, Denmark, China and Japan.
These investors are instituting strategy and marketing techniques, which have been sadly lacking in the past.
Not all of the investors are involved solely in the seafood industry. CP Foods of Thailand, which is one of the biggest chicken exporters in the world as well as dealing in fish and shrimp, has built a brand new pangasius processing plant in Vietnam.
The company claims to be one of the largest added value food producers and its vision statement incorporates the message that it will be the “Kitchen of the World.”
And this is a good clue as to what is happening in the Vietnamese pangasius industry. It is producing more and more value-added products for export.
One such company is Go Dang Seafood (Godaco), which harvests more than 120 metric tons (MT) of pangasius per day — this amount is scheduled to increase substantially in 2015 — which it processes in its four factories in Tien Giang Province in the Mekong Delta region. The company is building a fully integrated value-added factory scheduled to come online in late 2015.
“In the new factory we will able to produce grilled, smoked, and many different types of fully or par fried products, as well as sushi products,” said Bruce Sato, product R&D senior advisor.
Godaco was founded in 1998 by Nguyen Van Dao, president and CEO, but the company has since attracted investors from Iceland, Thailand and the Netherlands, who are also involved with chicken.
Its main market is the EU, to which it is selling IQF pangasius fillets. “However, with our push to becoming a value-added company, we are looking to open new markets such as Japan and the Americas with a focus also on Southeast Asian markets for ready-made meals,” Sato said.
“For value-added [lines] we have been successful in producing over 100 different items of which some will be going to our key markets starting January 1, 2015.
“Basically, our value-added team views panga [the name by which pangasius is increasingly known] as a chicken that swims, meaning that whatever chicken products are being sold, we can make with panga. These include Buffalo panga nuggets, breaded panga with infused tartar sauce, fish and chips with chips from Belgium being developed for ready meals, and bento, panga wellington with cream sauce and puffy pastry, panga fish pies, breaded panga tom yam. The list is endless.”
Despite the endless possibilities, the idea to concentrate on value-added pangasius products is in its infancy, according to Sato.
“The EU is driving the market for value-added by default,” he said, “as most buyers require a very specific size of fillet (120-220g) which they pay a premium for, or at least a good market price. Even though panga is farmed the technology for farming is still developing and companies still are not able to fully control growth of the fish.
“Depending on the farms, sometime they get bigger or smaller size fish which don’t fit into the EU demand. These off sizes are sold in other markets usually at lower prices.
“In order to try to maximize selling prices some companies tried their hand at some preliminary value-added products. Now, as more big players emerge with international management teams, or international JV’s, more focus is on creating value-added products.
“I do believe this is a very good thing for the panga industry in Vietnam as companies can use the specific advantages of panga to sell into the global market. With more professional international management the focus on panga is slowly shifting towards value-added products.’
Perhaps now, at last, the Vietnamese pangasius industry can start to fulfill its full potential.
