In Hanoi, the sorghum team met with a delegation from MARD, where they discussed methods to mitigate inflationary pressure for feed and food and the benefits of sorghum as an alternative ingredient. The Vietnamese delegation was led by Vice Minister of Agriculture Le Quoc Doanh and included officials from the Plant Protection Department (PPD) and International Cooperation Department (ICD), as well as representatives from two of Vietnam’s largest grain buyers.
The trade team also visited Vietnam’s first industrialized duck raising operation, owned by Mavin, one of Vietnam’s leading agribusinesses that is currently producing 6.5 million ducklings per year. The delegation was briefed on the operating activities of the farm and current dynamics in the Vietnamese duck market and offered information on feed formulations utilizing sorghum.
In southern Vietnam, the mission visited Vin Hoan, the country’s largest producer of pangasius, to discuss the company’s procurement practices and explore potential uses of sorghum in Vietnam’s higher-value aquaculture diets. USGC and USCP have been assessing and promoting the use of sorghum in Vietnamese pangasius diets since 2017, when feeding trials were conducted to test the viability of replacing cassava, a local energy source, with sorghum.
The group also visited Gyuomarch’s Bình Dương province factory, near Ho Chi Minh City. The sorghum delegation was able to view Gyuomarch’s pet food production process and discuss the potential for sorghum in Vietnamese pet formulations.
Vietnam is the largest animal feed market in Southeast Asia, producing over 30.1 million metric tons (MMT) in 2021 and forecasted to surpass 35 MMT of production within the next few years. The country alone produces around 75 percent of the world’s pangasius, a key new-use target for U.S. sorghum and corn co-products.
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