Which way for traditional Vietnamese fish sauce to compete in the market?

Fish sauce is considered the "soul" of Vietnamese cuisine , an indispensable spice in many traditional Vietnamese dishes, widely used in families and one of the potential export products.

Vietnam has advantages in raw materials and a long tradition of fish sauce production. Along with the development of society, the demand for fish sauce is increasing. This leads to the rapid entry of industrial fish sauce products.

Traditional Vietnamese fish sauce has higher production costs than handmade ones, so to compete in the market, businesses need to have appropriate strategies. Photo: KAG VN

In fact, traditional fish sauce has higher production costs due to being handmade, leading to higher selling prices than industrial fish sauce products. Therefore, to compete well in the market, traditional fish sauce businesses are now focusing on providing quality, safe products that meet customer needs. Special attention is paid to the health-conscious customer segment and as a result, some businesses have seen better revenue growth in recent years.

Mr. Trieu Quoc Tri, Factory Manager - Phu Quoc Quoc Vi Fish Sauce Company shared: " The target customers of the two lines of traditional and industrial fish sauce are different. I think I will just try to do my job well, create traditional products with high quality and safety to target the customer group of housewives who are very interested in daily family meals, and especially interested in the health of their family members".

In addition to continuing to improve product quality, to cope with the challenge of price competition, traditional fish sauce businesses are also applying new marketing and sales strategies, in line with market developments. They focus on expanding online sales channels, through network platforms such as Tiktok, Shopee, Lazada... in parallel with maintaining distribution through traditional channels such as convenience stores and supermarkets. Although the effectiveness of online sales channels is still not as good as traditional channels, businesses believe that this will be the sales trend in the future.

Many traditional Vietnamese fish sauce products are quite popular in domestic and international markets. Photo: Tieu Ket

In the international market, traditional Vietnamese fish sauce is quite popular with customers in many countries, especially in countries with large Vietnamese communities. However, our fish sauce is facing fierce competition with foreign fish sauce brands, and Thailand is one of the toughest competitors.

Therefore, in addition to improving product quality, ensuring food safety and hygiene and improving brand image, traditional Vietnamese fish sauce enterprises also need to promote investment in large-scale production with modern technology but still maintain the identity of traditional fish sauce to meet the needs of export markets.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Anh, Chairman of Nam Mien Trung Company, the investor of the traditional fish sauce brand Cana, said that his company has invested more than 1,000 billion VND to build a traditional fish sauce factory in Ninh Thuan using a modern industrial chain to meet the demand of the international market.

“We have built a factory with a capacity of 25 million liters of fish sauce per year. About 17,000 - 18,000 tons of anchovies are bought and fermented in the factory. We buy anchovies on the ship, ferment them on the ship and transport them to the product quality control area (KCS) and then transfer them to the fermentation pond to keep the original quality of the fish, keep the original way of making traditional fish sauce but on a large scale. From the standards of factory construction to the standards of input materials, we control them very strictly,” Mr. Hoang Anh shared.

Each region has a different traditional fish sauce production process, but all use fish and salt as the main ingredients. Currently, the demand for using and diversifying fish sauce products on the market is very large. Besides traditional fish sauce, industrial products are also increasingly popular. The price of fish sauce products on the market depends on each enterprise. Consumers often pay attention to the protein content of fish sauce, the higher the protein content, the higher the price.

“To create a difference between traditional fish sauce and other fish sauces, the Vietnam Traditional Fish Sauce Association has established standards for traditional Vietnamese fish sauce. All standards will be higher than the current Vietnamese regulations to create a unique feature, so that all consumers when using fish sauce will be able to distinguish which fish sauce is called traditional fish sauce and which fish sauce is not, using according to Vietnamese standards” , Ms. Ho Kim Lien, President of the Vietnam Traditional Fish Sauce Association emphasized.

In addition, putting fish sauce into industrial products such as processed foods, spices, etc. is also a new direction to promote and develop the Vietnamese fish sauce brand in the international market. Scientists and industry associations are working together to create new formulas, use and combine fish sauce in industrial products. This is considered a good solution for Vietnamese fish sauce to approach the international market.

Dr. Do Viet Ha - Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Chemistry Association said: "In the near future, the Traditional Fish Sauce Association, together with scientists, will design formulas, adjust them and invite foreign brands to try them. If they find it more delicious, they will use our traditional fish sauce ingredients. We do not sell fish sauce for them to leave on the kitchen shelf, but we provide ingredients for them to produce in an industrial form. With such thinking, it will become a big story, but if we only look at the chef, look at the family kitchen, it will not become popular. Because nowadays, in the industrial age, people eat out more than at home."

Mr. Vu The Thanh, Food Safety Expert also affirmed: “If you want to market a fish sauce product, you have to market it through cuisine. Through cuisine, there must be chefs who know how to use the fish sauce to suit the tastes of each country.”

It can be said that one of the urgent tasks of the Vietnamese fish sauce industry today is to develop national standards for traditional fish sauce, as a basis for promoting and exporting in the international market. At the same time, promote the expansion of large-scale traditional fish sauce factories, strictly controlling from raw materials to production processes to meet the large market space.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/loi-di-nao-de-nuoc-mam-truyen-thong-viet-canh-tranh-tren-thi-truong-355461.html