Viet Nam’s seafood industry poses positive growth till the first half of 2025
The third quarter (Q3) profit picture shows a positive recovery for seafood companies, coupled with increasing export expectations in the year-end period, indicating that the industry is entering a new growth cycle.
In Q3, Vinh Hoan Corporation reported a significant upturn, achieving a profit before tax of VNĐ402 billion (nearly US$16 million), an 82% compared to the same period in 2023. This result marks a return to positive growth since Q4 2022, which had concluded a prior growth cycle in Viet Nam’s pangasius export sector. As a result, Vinh Hoan’s cumulative profit before tax for the first nine months of 2024 has surpassed the previous year’s results.
The US remains Vinh Hoan’s largest market and growth engine, with export revenue to the US reaching over VND 2.9 trillion, a year-over-year increase of 23%. For 2024, it projects revenue of nearly VND13.4 trillion, up 34%, and a profit after tax of VND 1.19 trillion, marking a 22% increase over 2023.
Within the shrimp sector, technological advancements are enhancing farming success rates, reducing production costs and increasing profit margins. Sao Ta Foods JSC (FMC) posted Q3 revenue of over VND 2.8 trillion, a 58.6% increase, while net profit rose to VND 94.8 billion, up 6.2% from the prior year.
Though profit growth trailed revenue growth due to decreased financial income and elevated selling expenses, Sao Ta’s gross profit margin saw an improvement from 10.3% to 10.8%.
For the first nine months of the year, Sao Ta recorded a 32% gain in shrimp output alongside an 11% rise in average sales prices. However, anti-dumping and anti-circumvention tariffs on US exports tempered net profit growth, resulting in only a 0.9% year-over-year increase.
Minh Phu Seafood Corp also achieved a strong Q3 recovery, with revenue rising to VND 2.7 trillion, up 35% year-over-year, and profit after tax exceeding VND 198 billion. This result contrasts sharply with the previous quarter’s loss of VND 88 billion and a loss of VND 13.3 billion in Q3 2023.
The company’s financial performance was bolstered by financial income of VND 319 billion, nearly 32 times that of the same period last year, mainly from dividends received from subsidiaries. As of the end of September, Minh Phu’s cumulative revenue reached VND 6.2 trillion, a 33.5% increase, while net profit rose nearly 17-fold from last year to VND 135 billion.
Data from the General Department of Customs of Viet Nam indicates that seafood export revenue reached USD 7.16 billion in the first nine months of 2024, up 8.5%. Shrimp exports have led this growth, comprising approximately 40% of total seafood export value, with key markets being the US, Japan and the European Union. Additionally, pangasius exports posted notable gains, supported by recovering demand in traditional markets such as the US and EU.
VFM
