Seafood is one of the crucial growth drivers of the agricultural and environmental sector, with an average value-added growth rate higher than the GDP growth rate of the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industries.

Extremely impressive growth rate of the seafood industry

Over the 10-year period (2015-2025), the value added of the seafood sector nearly doubled, with seafood export turnover reaching over 11 billion USD and maintaining a proportion of approximately 16-23% in the total export turnover of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in recent years, the seafood sector has continued to achieve high and stable growth. In 2015, Vietnam's total seafood production reached more than 6.5 million tons, but by 2025 it increased to more than 9.9 million tons, achieving an average production growth rate of 4.3%/year. Within this, wild-capture fisheries production reached more than 3.8 million tons (accounting for over 38%), and aquaculture reached more than 6.1 million tons (accounting for over 61%).

The inland aquaculture sector experienced high growth rates driven by productivity and efficiency. In recent years, the aquaculture area has not increased substantially, remaining within the range of 1.1-1.2 million hectares, but productivity has risen rapidly, resulting in continuous production growth.

Aquaculture productivity increased on average from 33.5 quintals/hectare in 2015 to 51.8 quintals/hectare in 2024, an increase of over 54%. The level of intensification in aquaculture has improved significantly thanks to the application of science and technology, the development of high-quality breeds, the expansion of high-tech farming models, and enhanced technical management in production.

In the structure of aquaculture products, fish accounts for the largest proportion and shows a continuous upward trend over the years. Farmed fish production increased from more than 2.5 million tons in 2015 to more than 3.8 million tons in 2024. This growth was mainly driven by pangasius and several freshwater fish species with high economic value.

The Mekong Delta is the largest aquaculture production region in the country, with an output of over 4 million tons. This area possesses outstanding advantages in natural conditions, river systems, and water surface area, and concentrates key commodity sectors such as pangasius and brackish water shrimp for export. Particularly, pangasius production accounts for over 50% of the total fish output, reaching nearly 2 million tons, with a farming area of around 5,700-6,000 hectares.

Farmed shrimp production also grew rapidly, from more than 635,000 tons in 2015 to over 1.3 million tons in 2025. The share of shrimp in total aquaculture production has also risen gradually over the years, reflecting the trend of expanding high-tech shrimp farming, intensive farming, and developing farming zones dedicated to export.

Marine aquaculture is developing increasingly diversely and becoming more critical. In 2025, the entire country had about 9.8 million m³ of cages (including 4.6 million m³ of marine fish cages and 5.2 million m³ of lobster cages) and 59,200 hectares of mollusk farming. Total marine aquaculture production stood at approximately 859,200 tons, including 50,000 tons of marine fish, 4,200 tons of lobster, 470,000 tons of mollusks, and 335,000 tons of other species.

Vietnam's wild-capture fisheries production shows an increasing trend, but the growth rate has slowed down in recent years, reflecting the orientation toward gradually reducing natural exploitation and developing fisheries sustainably. Total wild-capture fisheries production increased from about 3.18 million tons in 2015 to about 3.83 million tons in 2025. Marine capture fisheries still account for a high proportion, at about 94% of total wild-capture fisheries production.

Over the past years, many advanced technological processes have been researched and transferred into production, bringing immense efficiency, helping fishermen stick to the sea, develop the marine economy, and engage in responsible fishing. Along with developing marine capture technologies, especially offshore fishing, the research and application of new technologies in the post-harvest processing of aquatic and marine products have been stepped up. This has contributed to raising the added value of many key economic species such as seaweed (for domestic consumption and export), giant squid (live preservation), and ocean tuna (for export).

Thanks to the steady increase in production, the seafood sector has recorded a high and stable growth rate over the past 10 years, averaging about 4.81%/year, which is higher than the general growth rate of the entire agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industry (3.59%). For many years, seafood has been the fastest-growing sector across the industry. Notably, during the 2017-2019 period, the seafood growth rate reached 6.05-6.46%, reflecting the strong development of aquaculture and seafood exports.

With stable growth, the share of seafood in the total GDP of the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industry increased to 21.5% in 2025, compared to 18% in 2010. Seafood is a sector that makes a substantial contribution to the GDP growth rate of the entire agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industry. On average during the 2015-2025 period, seafood contributed about 1.03 percentage points to the industry's overall growth of 3.59%, while forestry contributed 0.26 percentage points and agriculture contributed 2.29 percentage points. Seafood continues to be one of the vital growth drivers of Vietnam's agricultural and environmental sector, contributing to promoting the restructuring of the industry toward elevating added value and developing exports.

Vietnam has become one of the 3 largest seafood exporting countries in the world

Thanks to steady production growth, the seafood sector not only well satisfies domestic consumption demands but also generates major exports. From a small seafood exporting nation, whose seafood export value only surpassed the 1 billion USD mark in 2000, Vietnam has now become one of the 3 largest seafood exporting countries in the world, following China and Norway.

Vietnam's seafood export value in 2025 reached approximately 11.3 billion USD, accounting for about 6% of the total global seafood export turnover. In the first 5 months of 2026, despite multiple market difficulties, seafood exports still reached 4.65 billion USD, an increase of 10.6% over the same period in 2025.

Shrimp and pangasius remain the two main export products, contributing the most to export turnover and creating a distinct position for Vietnamese seafood in the global market. In 2025, shrimp exports reached nearly 4.6 billion USD, up about 18,8% compared to 2024 and accounting for more than 40% of total seafood export turnover.

In the first 5 months of 2026, the country's shrimp exports reached 1.85 billion USD, up 10.3% over the same period in 2025. In the global market, Vietnam continues to rank within the group of the three largest shrimp exporters, behind Ecuador and India, with a market share of about 12% of the global shrimp export value (ITC).

In 2025, pangasius exports reached more than 2 billion USD, an increase of about 7.7% compared to 2024. In the first 5 months of 2026, pangasius exports reached 830 million USD, up 11.1% over the same period in 2025. This is a product where Vietnam possesses clear advantages in raw material areas, processing systems, and international customer networks. However, pangasius also faces competitive pressure from other white-flesh fish types such as pollock and tilapia... Trade figures indicate that Vietnam's market share in the white-flesh fish group fell from about 12.9% in 2016 to around 10.6% in 2025.

Besides, wild-caught seafood groups such as tuna, squid, octopus, crab, and several other seafood products continue to supplement growth space, despite facing increasing pressure from traceability requirements, the fight against IUU fishing, raw material origin verification, and batch-by-batch traceability.

Vietnamese seafood has established a wide export network with products present in more than 170 countries and territories. China, the United States, Japan, the EU, and South Korea remain the core markets. Over the past 10 years, the structure of export markets has shown a clearer shift toward the Asian region.

Seafood exports to markets such as China, Japan, South Korea, ASEAN, and Taiwan increased from about 44% in 2016 to over 52% in 2025. This demonstrates that Vietnamese seafood exports are becoming increasingly tied to regional market spaces, where there is large demand, closer geographical distance, and the capacity to consume diverse products.

In the first 5 months of 2026, China remained the largest export market for Vietnamese seafood with a turnover of 1.16 billion USD, accounting for 25% of the country's total seafood exports. Followed by the United States (700 million USD, accounting for 15%), Japan (637 million USD, accounting for 13.6%), and South Korea (330 million USD, accounting for 7%)...

Shifting toward sustainable development

In recent years, the Vietnamese seafood industry has step-by-step shifted from broad-based development to sustainable development, focusing on raising quality, added value, protecting the environment, and satisfying international integration requirements. Vietnam is concentrating on stepping up aquaculture, restricting wild capture, ensuring seafood resources, and making efforts to lift the IUU yellow card. These are vital endeavors aimed at developing fisheries more sustainably and efficiently in the coming time.

Many positive results have been achieved in farming zone management, value chain linkages, and the development of a circular economy in fisheries. Farming zone management and traceability are increasingly enhanced through the issuance of aquaculture farming zone codes.

In 2025, localities continued to execute and accelerate the issuance of codes for farming establishments. Key pangasius-farming provinces set a goal of 100% of pangasius farming establishments being granted identification codes and certificates of eligibility for production. Pangasius farming establishments granted codes reached 1,206/6,500 establishments; the number of cage-farming establishments reached 684/11,325 establishments. The number of brackish water shrimp farming establishments reviewed stood at 86,906 establishments (24.9%), within which 76,811/349,745 have been granted codes (accounting for 22%, an increase of 4.5% compared to 2024)…

Linkages between farming zones and seafood processing enterprises are increasingly expanding. Many large enterprises have formed linked chains spanning from seed production, aquaculture, and purchasing to processing and export.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), currently the majority of exported shrimp and pangasius output is produced through linked chains with processing factories to guarantee quality standards, food safety, and traceability. Chain linkages not only help stabilize outlets for farmers but also contribute to raising the added value and competitiveness of Vietnamese seafood in the international market.

The circular economy in fisheries has initially received development focus and brought about positive efficiency. Many localities and enterprises have deployed models utilizing seafood by-products to produce animal feed, fish oil, collagen, chitosan, organic fertilizers, and bioenergy. According to VASEP, each year the seafood industry generates millions of tons of by-products, in which many types have been recycled to enhance utilization value instead of being discarded and causing environmental pollution. Several models combining shrimp farming with solar power, water recirculation farming, and farming integrated with mangrove restoration are also being expanded to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.

Alongside opportunities, the seafood sector is confronting challenges and barriers that must be thoroughly resolved to ensure sustainable production, raise efficiency, enhance competitiveness, and better satisfy market requirements.

Specifically, global competitive pressure is intensifying while the Vietnamese seafood industry has not taken control of breeds and feed ingredients. The seafood sector is falling into a “high-cost trap,” with the production cost of Vietnam's commercial shrimp currently 20-30% higher than direct competitor countries like Ecuador and India.

Namely, the production cost for shrimp sized at 50 pcs/kg in Vietnam is 4.25 USD/kg, in India it is 2.9 USD/kg, and in Ecuador it is 2.4 USD/kg. The reason is that Vietnam has not taken control of high-quality breed sources (relying on imported broodstock), leading to low survival rates. Seafood feed costs account for 64% of production costs, and over 60% of seafood feed ingredients must be imported.

The rapid development of Ecuador—with the advantage of vast pond areas, low-density farming, and low costs—and India in the whiteleg shrimp segment has pushed the global market into fierce price competition. For pangasius, competitive pressure from importing countries that are major markets, such as Indonesia and India, which are accelerating the development of domestic farming sources, means Vietnam no longer holds an absolute monopoly. That context forces Vietnamese seafood to shift its mindset toward diversifying into high-economic-value farming species (such as deep-sea marine fish, seaweed, sea cucumber, and specialty crustaceans).

Non-tariff challenges from the trade “greening” trend. Major consumer markets like the EU, the US, and Japan are continuously erecting new and stricter technical barriers. Regulations on intensive due diligence regarding resource sustainability, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and requirements to calculate the “carbon footprint” on each unit of seafood product will soon become mandatory regulations in the coming period. For pangasius and shrimp, strict food safety inspection regulations from the FSIS (US Food Safety and Inspection Service) or anti-subsidy and countervailing duty (CVD) lawsuits from the US side present permanent, direct challenges.

Pressure from the European Commission's (EC) anti-IUU fishing regulations requires Vietnam's capture capacity management and traceability systems to achieve absolute transparency. This is no longer a temporary trade challenge but a test of national governance capacity over marine resources.

One of the largest bottlenecks for Vietnamese seafood currently is the reliance on two main products, shrimp and pangasius, yet the majority of exported products remain in raw, preliminary processed, or frozen fillet forms, with low added value. Intensive production also causes impacts on the aquatic environment if solutions guaranteeing sustainable production are absent. This is a significant challenge because most seafood production households still operate on a small scale, making it difficult to invest in high technology and apply sustainable cultivation standards.

Climate change is no longer a future warning but is directly causing severe damage (such as storms and floods in the North, and severe saltwater intrusion in the Southern provinces and the Mekong Delta). Extreme natural disaster phenomena destroy farming zone infrastructure, alter environmental monitoring factors, and trigger complex mutations of new disease strains.

In addition, the trend of aging and shifting labor from rural to urban areas means the seafood industry (both capture and farming/processing) is facing the risk of severe labor shortages. In the next 5-10 years, the generation of veteran fishermen will pass working age, while the younger generation is no longer keen on marine occupations. The current workforce relies primarily on experience, severely lacking the capacity to access advanced science and technology (such as operating RAS recirculation systems, processing AI data, and accounting for the circular economy), directly hindering the synchronous modernization process of the entire industry.

To develop the seafood sector in an efficient and sustainable direction, satisfy market requirements well, and mitigate risks from climate change and diseases, the seafood sector will focus on a number of strategic orientations in the coming time.

Specifically, continue to perfect institutions and unleash resource assets. Focus on reviewing and synchronizing the Law on Fisheries with the Law on Land and the Law on the Sea to thoroughly remove bottlenecks in the processes of allocating and leasing marine areas, water surfaces, and land for aquaculture. Shorten administrative procedures related to licensing offshore marine farming under Decision No. 1664/QĐ-TTg.

Construct green credit mechanisms, tax incentives, and marine area utilization fee exemptions for enterprises investing in core infrastructure (seafood logistics hubs, class-I fishing ports, and centralized storm-shelter anchorages). Promulgate specific support packages to transition livelihoods for fishermen from nearshore capture to industrial marine farming models or eco-tourism services.

Organize production according to value chains, forming large-scale farming zones that achieve sustainability certificates tied to farming zone traceability. Organize small-scale farmers to participate in new-style cooperative and collaborative group models. Reorganize production toward issuing and managing farming zone codes (establishment identification codes) in a substantive manner, synchronizing processes according to international certification standards (ASC, BAP, GlobalGAP). Develop linked chains, building tight linkage and benefit-sharing mechanisms among seed production establishments, feed mills, farming households, and processing and exporting enterprises.

Increase investment in research, science and technology application, and digital transformation. This serves as the key driver to raise productivity and quality. Actively secure breakthroughs in breed technology, prioritize research resources, and step up the application of advanced biotechnology and selective breeding to take 100% control of high-quality shrimp broodstock and specialty seed fish.

Develop aquatic breeds with superior characteristics such as rapid growth, disease resistance, and adaptability to widely fluctuating salinity levels. Modernize aquaculture and management processes, promoting the transfer and dissemination of recognized technical advances. Apply recirculating aquaculture systems in greenhouses (RAS) and Biofloc technology to control biosecurity absolutely. Digitize comprehensively through applying IoT sensor systems for automatic water quality monitoring, and utilize artificial intelligence (AI) in disease analysis and feed intake control to optimize the feed conversion ratio (FCR), lowering production costs to compete fairly in the international market.

Regarding markets, maintain current markets, develop new markets, and focus on removing non-tariff barriers. Concentrate on optimizing technical processes to satisfy stringent standards from foreign food safety inspection systems (such as the US FSIS). Enhance legal capacity to respond effectively to anti-subsidy and anti-dumping (CVD) lawsuits. Resolutely execute administrative and technical measures to completely and sustainably lift the EC's IUU yellow card. Restructure markets and products effectively according to demand.

For key commodity sectors (shrimp, pangasius), shift powerfully toward deeply processed, ready-to-eat segments with high added value instead of exporting raw materials that consume heavy biomass. Execute market and product diversification strategies through orientations to gradually reduce the area proportion of conventional farming species currently under fierce competitive pressure. Plan the development of niche product lines with exceptionally high economic value that do not require large areas (such as deep-sea marine fish, lobster, exported seaweeds/algae, sea cucumber, and mollusks) to serve premium markets like the EU, Japan, the US, and China.

Raise resilience and adaptability to climate change. Proactively manage natural disaster and disease risks. Invest synchronously in automatic environmental monitoring station networks and early warning systems for natural disasters and diseases in large centralized farming zones, particularly the Mekong Delta and Central coastal provinces. Restore and protect ecosystems. Deploy the Project on environmental protection in fisheries activities effectively. Strictly execute wastewater and sludge treatment processes before discharging into the common environment. Step up integrated farming models that carry ecological restoration properties (eco-shrimp farming under mangrove canopies, alternating aquaculture-rice farming) to construct biological buffer zones against saltwater intrusion and sea-level rise.

Execute green transformation and the circular economy, creating new growth drivers for the seafood sector. Proactively build a standard system to account for the “carbon footprint” across shrimp and pangasius product chains to overcome new technical regulations such as the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Encourage intensive farming zones and processing factories to apply renewable energy (rooftop solar power, wave/wind energy at marine farming establishments).

Develop the biochemical processing industry for by-products. Shape the seafood by-product processing industry into a new growth pillar. The entire source of fish heads, fish bones, internal organs, and shrimp shells (accounting for 35-40% of raw material weight) must be collected and subjected to biotechnology application to extract high-grade organic compounds such as Chitin, Chitosan, Collagen, bio-Peptides, and new-generation feed supplements…

Source: Bao dien tu Dan Viet