Toan Dao

Contributing Editor reporting from Hanoi, Vietnam

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

Published on
July 10, 2024

In May 2024, Vietnam recorded its highest monthly pangasius export volumes in two years, mainly thanks to rising demand from China. 

But rapidly rising freight rates and low prices are offsetting some of those gains, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Vietnam shipped more than 83,000 metric tons (MT) of pangasius to global markets in May, a 46 percent rise year over year and an 8 percent

Read More
Published on
July 3, 2024

Indonesian shrimp companies are beginning to feel the impacts of a recently imposed U.S. antidumping duty, leaving exporters in the country scrambling to drum up sales and reduce costs elsewhere.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) launched an investigation in November 2023 following trade petitions filed by the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) that claimed imported shrimp was receiving an unfair advantage in the U.S. marketplace.

Read More
Published on
July 1, 2024

Vietnamese shrimp company Minh Phu Seafood has outlined plans to increase both its domestic sales and its sales to China, as competition has intensified in the U.S., according to CEO Le Van Quang.

The U.S. has traditionally been a key market for Minh Phu shrimp, but in recent years, the company has faced heavy competition from firms from Ecuador and India, which have aggressively upped their sales to the U.S. by offering low prices and even

Read More
Published on
June 21, 2024

Thailand has moved ahead with a proposed rollback of its fisheries reforms, with a drafting committee in the country expected to approve the changes on 23 June and enforcement likely to follow the next month.

Several organizations have warned the move may allow illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing to proliferate and may negatively affect trade between Thailand and its major trading partners.

Thailand originally instituted changes

Read More
Published on
May 28, 2024

Vietnam’s top shrimp producer, Minh Phu Seafood, is making big changes to its farming technology, transitioning from intensive methods of shrimp production to technology it says is more sustainable and will mitigate skyrocketing production costs.

In 2019, Minh Phu CEO Le Van Quang told SeafoodSource his company had begun to apply an intensive farming strategy dubbed “2-3-4 technology." at the company's two main farming areas. But

Read More
Published on
May 8, 2024

Samut Sakhon, Thailand-based seafood producer Thai Union reported a year-over-year rise in profits in the first quarter of 2024, with the company attributing the spike to demand recovery across its core product categories, according to its latest results report released 8 May.

The company’s Q1 2024 net profits rose to nearly THB 1.2 billion (USD 31.2 million, EUR 29 million), up 12.9 percent year over year. When compared to Q1

Read More
Published on
May 6, 2024

China’s Yuehai Feeds Group has begun work on the first phase of a new aquaculture feed mill in southern Vietnam.

The plant will be located on a 5-hectare plot in Vinh Long Province along the Mekong Delta, a hub of aquaculture production in Vietnam.

The facility will cost VND 500 billion (USD 19.8 million, EUR 18.4 million) to complete, according to a 26 April statement issued by the project’s main contractor: the Sonadezi

Read More
Published on
March 21, 2024

The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced an increase in antidumping duties for five pangasius exporters from Vietnam, following a period review spanning from 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2022.

In its final decision, published in the Federal Register on 14 March 2024, the DOC maintained a zero duty issuance for Vinh Hoan, consistent with its preliminary findings, released in September 2023.

However, Can Tho Import-Export Seafood Joint

Read More
Published on
March 14, 2024
Vietnamese pangasius exports skyrocketed in the first month of 2024, but analysts remain skeptical whether that momentum can last through the remainder of the year. In January 2024, the country shipped pangasius worth USD 165 million (EUR 150.9 million) to global markets, almost doubling the value it shipped overseas during the same month of 2023. Frozen fillets accounted for USD 131 million (EUR 119.8 million) of that total. Vietnam's January… Read More