VMC Vietnam aims to become a professional veterinary medicine manufacturer for poultry in the Vietnamese market

Brave decision to bring the company to a new position

Sharing about the fate of starting the arduous 20-year journey, Mr. Nguyen Huu Vinh, Founder and current Director of Vietnam VMC Manufacturing and Trading Joint Stock Company, shared that, since he was an employee for a foreign veterinary medicine company, he recognized the demand of domestic customers in Vietnam for more support. Therefore, Mr. Vinh decided to establish VMC Vietnam and seize market opportunities with the desire to better serve domestic livestock farmers, especially poultry farmers.

At the beginning, VMC Vietnam chose to distribute the veterinary medicines of the world's leading manufacturers from the US, Belgium, Japan, etc., creating a bridge to bring good-quality products to Vietnamese consumers.

During the distribution period of 2004–2010, VMC Vietnam was almost unprofitable. This is the period of both market exposure and training for the enterprise. To survive during this time, the Board of Directors received a very low salary and had to self-operate in almost all stages: delivery, sales, in charge of regions, and each product segment.

"VMC, from the beginning of its establishment, has identified manufacturing as the main pillar, right in the company name 'Manufacturing and Trading'. However, at first, due to the need for good preparation in terms of techniques and market, the company chose distribution trade to practice, and after 6 years of preparation, VMC Vietnam officially entered the manufacturing field."

In 2010, VMC Vietnam decided to step into manufacturing with its first products for poultry. The company recognizes that poultry is a farming industry that is very close to farmers, has low costs and quick capital turnover, and is a regular dish among Vietnamese people, especially native colored-feather chicken. This is the first foundation for VMC Vietnam to become an enterprise with specialized strengths in veterinary products for poultry in Vietnam.

Sharing about the decision to step into manufacturing and completely cut off distribution products, Mr. Vinh said that VMC Vietnam is one of the rare companies that completely live by self-manufacturing and self-trading. At that time, this was a brave but determined decision by VMC Vietnam, but after 14 years of development, it has now proven to be a wise decision.

"The company's strategy is to serve more than pure business, aiming to produce common domestic products that can compete with foreign products," Mr. Vinh shared.

The company realized that Vietnam is many years behind European countries in the production of pharma-chemical products in general, so if it focuses on high-quality products, the chances of success will be low because of limited technological capacity, research, and development. Thus, the company chose to focus on the segment of common and popular products that have great demand in Vietnam's livestock industry.

During the time of accompanying livestock farmers, VMC Vietnam realized that disease was the biggest pain. Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate, so pathogens are complicated, with many types of bacteria, viruses, internal and external parasites, and fungi.

As a veterinary medicine manufacturing company, VMC Vietnam wishes to cooperate with experts, state management agencies, and international organizations to help farmers understand disease risks and early and proactive disease prevention and control methods, limiting damage as best as possible.

Consider building trust as the enterprise's most important factor

Since 2010, VMC Vietnam has had 14 years of manufacturing experience, from manufacturing products in powder form to solution form.

In 2016, VMC built a GMP-WHO factory to produce products for cattle, poultry, and aquatic animals, including antibiotics, feed additives, antiseptics, therapeutic support products, and products containing probiotics.

After 20 years of establishment and construction, VMC has become a branded enterprise, with strong products in the poultry field that have been trusted and stably used by large livestock farms for many years.

Fishery sector

One of the company's biggest milestones in the fishery sector in the 20-year journey is that the company has accompanied lobster farmers in Phu Yen province to proactively prevent two diseases that cause great damage, namely milky hemolymph disease and white spot disease.

Although the enterprise is located in the North, not near the sea, it has approached and accompanied lobster farmers in the South Central region for a long time and solved their problems. This is the company’s great, persistent effort, as it has overcome many difficulties of geographical distance and built trust for fishermen and local government.

Convincing farmers from their headshakes, the VMC Laboratory Testing and Diagnose Diseases Center and Dr. Truong Dinh Hoai, a scientist from the Faculty of Fisheries at the Vietnam National University of Agriculture, have begun to approach the lobster farming area at Xuan Dai Bay, Song Cau town, Phu Yen province, since March 2022.

As of April 2024, VMC has had nearly 20 trips to this farming area to test for diseases, screen for diseases, review disease epidemiology, and learn about the farming methods and practices of farmers here.

VMC Laboratory has identified the main agents causing two diseases (milky hemolymph disease and white spot disease) with major damage to lobster farming cages. At some times, these two diseases cause more than 70% damage.

Based on the results of testing the cause of the disease and the results of the antibiogram, VMC's factory has produced solution packages (Combo) to help farmers proactively prevent diseases. With farmers' trust and many appropriate improvements, Combo products have proven to be highly effective and bring obvious economic efficiency for farmers. The damage to some cages with standard application and early use is only less than 20%.

In particular, because of the adhesive and appetite stimulant, lobsters eat well and do not have growth retardation when compared to using other single chemotherapeutic medicines.

After achieving good results, VMC Vietnam has connected with the Vietnam Seaculture Association (VSA), the government of Song Cau town, and the Phu Yen Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to continue to implement expanded recommendation programs to help give farmers more information about disease prevention solutions, thereby helping lobster farmers achieve high economic efficiency.

Accompanying Phu Yen lobster demonstrates VMC Vietnam’s core message: "Building trust is the company’s most important factor in 20 years of construction and development."

Set major strategic directions for the next journey

VMC Vietnam identifies the following years as a period of many challenges for the livestock, cattle, poultry, and fisheries industries in Vietnam. To fit the new context, VMC Vietnam implements two major strategies.

First, become a company that manufactures livestock and veterinary products specializing in poultry in the Vietnamese market with good quality and competitive prices.

Second, participate in supplying products for freshwater fish and exported catfish by providing high-quality products and diagnostic and testing services for early disease detection, aiming at disease screening for large livestock farms, and proactive disease prevention.

In addition, VMC Vietnam continues to promote products and services for cattle, shrimp, seawater fish, cold water fish, and other livestock farming.

VMC Vietnam always attaches importance to investment in technology and human resources. The company has a strategy to invest early in equipment and technology. The GMP-WHO factory was completed in December 2016 with three lines of manufacturing antibiotics for cattle, poultry, and aquatic animals. The factory also has one probiotic production line and two production lines for feed additives and probiotics.

The Testing and Diagnose Diseases Center was completed and put into operation in April 2020 and achieved ISO 17025:2017 certification in August 2022. The Center has the function of testing for diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, internal and external parasites, testing water quality, testing antibodies, and making antibiograms to help farms control health and screen for diseases. From there, the Center makes out a safe prescription for effective disease treatment at a low cost for livestock.

The VMC Company's name, which is associated with the country name of Vietnam, is a great source of pride and responsibility. VMC Vietnam Company is entering a new phase of strong development with the desire to become a useful, highly responsible enterprise contributing to prosperous Vietnamese agriculture.