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
December 15, 2022

Kerala, India-based shrimp farmer, processor, and exporter King Infra Ventures is expanding into India's retail consumer market as part of its goal of becoming a “farm-to-fork” company.

The launch of its seafood retail business will center on its "King Fresh" range of seafood products, including cleaned, cut, packed, and chilled seafood packed in 250- and 500-gram tray packets. The King Infra product range

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Published on
December 14, 2022

Thai Union has topped the food industry rankings on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI), the company announced 13 December.

The seafood giant has been on the DJSI, a set of indices assessing the sustainability performance of thousands of publicly traded companies, for nine years in a row. This year, Thai Union ranked first in the Food Products Industry Index of the DJSI, which it was also granted back in 2018 and 2019.

The company

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Published on
December 9, 2022

Thai Union will invest THB 6 billion (USD 172.4 million, EUR 163.3 million) to expand its operations in 2023, despite global headwinds including high inflation and rising interest rates.

Of that total, THB 1 billion (USD 28.7 million, EUR 27.2 million) will be used to finish and optimize two new factories that will produce protein hydrolysate and collagen peptide in Samut Sakhon, Thailand. Thai Union also plans to open a cold storage facility

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Published on
December 9, 2022

Vietnam's November pangasius exports fell to the lowest level thus far in 2022, according to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

In November, Vietnam shipped less than USD 8 million (EUR 7.6 million) worth of pangasius. Though the monthly growth was the lowest so far this year, it is still up 12 percent from a year ago. 

Sales had been strong in the ... 

Photo courtesy of Dzung

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Published on
December 8, 2022

The Asian Development Bank and ABIS Exports India Private Limited (ABIS) have signed a sustainability-linked debt facility worth USD 16 million (EUR 15.3 million) to build a micro-aquafeed plant in India.

The fund will also help train up to 6,000 farmers on climate-resilient fish farming practices and financial knowledge, as part of ADB's effort to help improve food security in India.

The specialized aquafeed to be produced by the plant

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Published on
December 8, 2022

Shrimp farmers in Bangladesh are facing losses due to a sharp decline in prices.

Shrimp farming is a primary income source for thousands of farmers in the main shrimp-producing region of Bangladesh - Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat - in the southwestern part of the country. Around 90 percent of shrimp produced in the region is exported, with Europe accounting for the biggest share of Bangladesh's exports.

However,

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Published on
December 7, 2022

India’s shrimp industry is hurting amid rising global inflation, its domestic production flagging and farming income on the decline.

The country earned USD 7.76 billion (EUR 7.4 billion) from its seafood exports in the last fiscal year and had targeted USD 8.8 billion (EUR 8.4 billion) in exports this fiscal year, which ends 31 March, 2023. However, lower demand from the U.S. and the E.U. and obstacles in the Chinese market have made it

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Published on
December 6, 2022

Pakistan has boosted its seafood sales to China, in part thanks to the commencement of a bilateral free-trade agreement.

The China-Pakistan Free-Trade Agreement took effect in 2007, and its second phase with more tax incentives entered into force beginning in December 2019, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.  

Pakistan shipped ... 

Photo courtesy of Iqbal Akhtar

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Published on
December 6, 2022

India’s top shrimp feed producer, Avanti Feeds, has commenced commercial operations at a new feed plant in Andhra Pradesh.

The plant, which opened 3 December, cost around INR 1.25 billion (USD 15.1 million, EUR 14.4 million) and has a capacity of 175,000 metric tons (MT) per year, the company said in a filing with the National Stock Exchange of India.

The additional capacity from the new plant has helped raise the total annual

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Published on
December 2, 2022

Vietnam saw its tuna sales in October fall to the lowest in seven months this year as sales to the U.S. and other markets fade away, according to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

The exports in the month were worth USD 76 million (EUR 72.8 million), up 4 percent from a year earlier but being the lowest since April.

High inflation is hitting purchasing power in many markets such as the U.S., Belgium, Israel, Egypt,

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