Mazzetta and Amanda, leading US importers of frozen seafood, have launched a co-operation programme with Vietnamese company Proconco to push the exports of basa fish in US market. At a meeting with the ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Foreign Affairs, the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department, and local farmers in the Mekong province of An Giang last month, the three companies unveiled the “From Farm to Table” concept that underlies the co-operation programme.
According to the news release the programme will choose a Mekong province to be a pioneer in applying the integration concept including high quality feed, standardisation of farming activity, use of approved processing factory, and establishing product brands. This will later be expanded across the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta. Proconco asure its investment in researching and developing the model to ensure the quality of fish feed. It will also support farmers with farming and processing technologies to meet the requirements of customers in North America.
Mazzetta agreed to raise the imports of Vietnamese tra and basa fish from the current 600 tonnes to 1,000 tonnes per month. The group also made recommendations on how Viet Nam could deal with the US Farm Bill. Experts believe that as long as the details of the law have not been finalized in US, Viet Nam still has the chance to work with the US to make it fair for the Vietnamese industry.
Tom Mazzetta, founder and CEO of Mazzetta, said the company shared similar concerns with Viet Nam about the new trade barrier. He told that the company had advised Vietnamese authorities to take quick action to deal with issues raised by the Farm Bill.
