Binh Dinh tuna fish unable to go deep into the Japanese market

Getting acquainted with international markets

Binh Dinh Fishery Joint Stock Company (BIDIFISCO) exported the first catch of whole round tuna to Japan on early August 2014. Accordingly, Vietnam's first catch of nine tuna weighing 448 kilograms in total was shipped to Japan by air to be present at an auction in Kansai City, Japan.

In early 2015, Kato Hitoshi General Office (Japan) and BIDIFISCO continued to bring the second catch of seven tuna with a total weight of 320kg to Japan.               

According to Tran Van Phuc Director of Binh Dinh Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, exporting whole round tuna to Japan was part of  the Pilot Project on catching, purchasing and processing tuna in chain of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and under the cooperation plan between Binh Dinh People's Committee and Japan-Vietnam Friendship Association in Sakai.

The project aimed at  developing tuna industry in Binh Dinh. Accordingly, Binh Dinh People's Committee and Japan International Cooperation Agency in Vietnam (JICA Vietnam) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to carry out the project to transfer Japanese technology and gear to Binh Dinh province for catching, preserving and exporting tuna to Japan.

According to fishery experts, the shipments of whole round tuna to Japan were just a test for the competiveness of Binh Dinh with other competitors in the region. Thereby the quality of Binh Dinh tuna has been improved and the province has got acquainted with entering foreign markets as well as seeking for new partners.

Unable to compete with other rivals

By adopting new technology and gear in catching, processing and preserving, the quality of Binh Dinh tuna fish has been improved significantly.

However, exporting whole round tuna to Japan has exposed weak points of Binh Dinh's tuna industry  making it difficult  to compete with other rivals in the region like Philippines for example. Philippines has also exported tuna to Japan and the country has professional tuna enterprises with a fleet of 20 fishing vessels.

When the fishing fleet went to sea for tuna fishing there would be a store-vessel along with them. The journey would last around three days. On the third day of the journey, all tuna caught by the fleet would be transported to the store-vessel for storing and being carried to the shore immediately. At port, the tuna fish was preliminarily processed and transported directly to the airport and shipped to Japan by air on the same afternoon. The flight from Philippines would arrive at Osaka airport (Japan) at around 1-2 am and brought to the tuna auction in Kansai at 3 am. By that way, Philippines's tuna fish was exported to Japan without losing money on storing, preserving and the fish was sold as fresh as possible.

Meanwhile, Binh Dinh tuna took more time to be exported to Japan. After arriving at the port, the tuna fish was sorted and purchased by BIDIFISCO then transported to the company for storage for 1-2 days before taken to Ho Chi Minh City by plane. While waiting for a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Japan, the tuna fish would be stored at Tan Son Nhat airport until 1 am the next morning to travel to Japan. The catch of Binh Dinh tuna could arrive at Osaka airport (Japan) by 4 am or 5 am. At that time, the tuna auction in Kansai had ended. Therefore, the catch of Binh Dinh tuna fish had to be stored at Osaka airport for one more day to wait for the auction in Kansai.

For the above reasons the percentage of Philippine tuna described as first-rank was 60-70% while the rate for Binh Dinh tuna fish was only 20%.

"Higher transportation and storage costs have reduced the competitiveness of Binh Dinh tuna fish compared to other rivals in the region when reaching the Japanese market. Apart from that, because of long-duration tuna storage, the quality of Binh Dinh tuna fish is often lower than that of other competitors," said Cao Thi Kim Lan, director of BIDIFISCO.