Tilapia in Vietnam

Driving growth with local production of fingerlings

Broodstock and fingerlings

Tilapia farming largely depends on imported 21-day old tilapia fry from Taiwan and China. Although more expensive than locally produced fingerlings, there is a demand as these grow much faster. There is a market for fingerling production in Vietnam. In 2021, Genomar Genetics announced its expansion into Asia with its subsidiary in Vietnam. In phase I, the company plans to produce 50 million fingerlings/year. The first hatchery is in Tay Ninh province and a second hatchery in Northern Vietnam will be in operation by Q1, 2022.

Sheng Long Bio-Tech International, a leading aquafeed producer in Vietnam has fulfilled its plans to spearhead tilapia farming in Vietnam. In 2016, it began to import broodstock genetically selected for fast growth and high fillet ratio from its parent company in China. The first trait is to satisfy farmers and the second, importers. The fastgrowing fingerlings can reach 600g in 4 months and 1 kg by 6 months in brackish water ponds at <8ppt salinity. In 2018, it expanded its hatchery in Soc Trang to supply 200 million fingerlings/year of both black and red tilapia. Sheng Long sees a strong export potential for Vietnam’s tilapia.

The company has not only invested in quality fingerling production and feed but is closing the loop with farmers with a farming model suitable for the environment, technology transfer and a product offtake contract for processing. In Long Phu district, Soc Trang province, farmer Vo Thanh Van harvested 235 tonnes of tilapia from eight ponds of average sizes of 4,000m2/pond in 2019. In his first farming period, the average ex-farm price was VND27,000/kg (USD1.17/kg) with a profit of VND1.5 billion (USD65,186).

Fingerlings at the Sheng Long hatchery in Soc Trang province; 40 days old (2000-2500 fingerlings/kg)

The national target in Vietnam is to reach 400,000 tonnes of tilapia by 2030. The plan by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is for 4550% of production to be exported in product forms such as tilapia fillets and value added products. There is a relatively large domestic market where the preference is live or chilled fish of 600g to 1kg, the latter size for hot pot meals.

To succeed, the plan calls for support activities: production of enough fingerlings and control of diseases such as Streptococcus which is prevalent at water temperatures above 30°C. MARD’s target is to reach 40,000ha of farming area and 1.8 million m3 of cage culture in rivers and large reservoirs by 2030.

In 2019, the Vietnam Directorate of Fisheries said that the country had 16,000ha of farming area and produces 125,000 tonnes. In 2020, this area was expected to increase to 21,000ha and 150,000 tonnes. In 2020, Vietnam exported frozen whole fish, skin-on fillet and skin-less fillet to more than 60 countries.

In north Vietnam, Van Tien Nguyen (2020) reported that trials with farmers on intensive culture of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in monoculture in ponds showed that tilapia could reach an average weight of 500g after 6 months, with productivity up to 20 tonnes/ ha/cycle. The net income per ha of pond was VND60,000,000 (about USD4,000). Floating extruded feed with 26-28% protein was used for fish smaller than 300g and feed with 18% protein when fish were larger than 300g. The culture season for tilapia is 7-8 months from April to the middle of November.

Reference

Nguyen, Van. (2020). Intensive culture of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus in North Vietnam. 10.1079/AC.79343.20203483523.