The world’s biggest retail group Wal-Mart and Vietnamese seafood exporters have recently met to discuss ways to sell Vietnamese seafood in the US system, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
Representatives of the two sides met on the sideline of the Boston seafood tradeshow in mid-March in the presence of Vietnamese seafood processors and international institutions for animal preservation, said the General Secretary of VASEP Nguyen Huu Dung.
VASEP presented its partner with the potential and outstanding advantages of Vietnamese grown tra, basa and shrimp. Vietnam’s catfish ranks second among freshwater fish in the world, just after African carp. Vietnam’s catfish yield is very large, about 500,000 tons in 2005, well exceeding the US with 300,000 tons.
In addition, Vietnam’s tra and basa have outstanding advantages in terms of quality and low cost.
Wal-Mart is following a strategy aiming at creating a sustainable seafood business, under which all the products on sale must have the MSC label (the certificate granted by the Marine Stewardship Council for ecological seafood).
That means in addition to having to ensure product quality, Vietnamese products must also get the MSC certificate in order to be sold at Wal-Mart. MSC in the South East Asia said that it was considering putting some kinds of seafood under the MSC assessment and certification process.
Wal-Mart owns a distribution system of 4,688 supermarkets worldwide, two-thirds of which are in the US. Wal-Mart leads the 500 world’s top companies, with a total turnover of $288 billion.
If cooperation between Vietnamese seafood exporters and Wal-Mart becomes a reality, Vietnam will have more opportunities to penetrate the US market.
Last year, Mazzetta and Amanda, two main suppliers of the US-based fast food provider McDonald’s also came to Vietnam to seek opportunities to sell Vietnam’s seafood in its restaurant systems.
Shrimp is the largest export earner for Vietnam's seafood industry, accounting for more than half of Vietnam's total seafood export revenues, while the US was the biggest importer of Vietnamese shrimp since 2002.
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