Minh Phu Hau Giang, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s biggest shrimp company, Minh Phu, plans to put two lines into operation next month to produce frozen whole cooked shrimp products, Minh Phu’s chairman and CEO told SeafoodSource Tuesday, 27 August.
The coming move will be the company’s first noticeable expansion after Minh Phu received a cash influx of more than VND 3 trillion (USD 130.3 million, EUR 114.6 million) from Japan’s Mitsui & Co. in June this year in exchange for 60 million company shares.
Minh Phu has already been able to produce whole cooked shrimp, using its current production lines. But the coming two lines, imported from Europe, will be its first ones exclusively dedicated to whole cooked shrimp. They will have combined capacity of 32 metric tons (MT) per day, or 960 MT per month, according to CEO Le Van Quang.
Currently, Minh Phu Hau Giang has processing capacity of about 150 MT per day, or 4,500 MT per month.
The products will be exported to China, Australia, South Korea, Japan, and Europe.
Material for the lines will be mainly sourced from Minh Phu’s own farms to make sure the shrimp has the desirable size and color, Quang said. The shrimp will be kept alive until it reaches the plant for processing, he added.
Currently, Minh Phu can meet roughly 10 percent of its material shrimp demand via own supply, with the remainder coming from local farmers and imports. The company wants to increase the share of its own material supply to about 20 percent by the end of this year and to 50 percent in coming years, Quang told SeafoodSource in July.
In June, Minh Phu said it used funds from the share sale with Mitsui to buy a 30.8 percent stake in Minh Phu Hau Giang from Mitsui. The Japanese company wanted to divest the stake to focus its resources on the parent company. As a result of the transfer, Minh Phu raised its stake in the subsidiary to 98.3 percent, up from 67.5 percent.
Photo courtesy of Minh Phu
