Pangasius in the Middle East: Vinh Hoan starts selling to Middle East’s first discount retailer ‘VIVA’

During the last years, the Middle East has been highlighted as a high potential market for seafood products. Pangasius is gaining more popularity on the menus in this region and it is seen as a tasty, convenient and healthy product. However, as the Middle East has unfavourable weather conditions to produce agricultural products, pangasius has to be imported. This opens up many opportunities for pangasius exporters. One of the exporters taking this opportunity is Vietnam’s well-known pangasius producer ‘Vinh Hoan’.

Earlier this year, Vinh Hoan has started to sell frozen and breaded Pangasius fillets to the first food discounter in the Middle East called ‘VIVA’. This is a new food discounter of the Landmark Group, which is one of the largest retail organizations in the Middle East, Africa and India.

VIVA is the answer to the region’s demand for cheaper groceries. The concept is based on the European supermarket chains Lidl and Aldi and its motto is “fresher, cheaper, better”. The first stores were opened in February this year in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Vin Hoan is “the only Vietnamese Pangasius processor meeting all the requirements of the retail giant in terms of product safety, quality, and traceability after over one-year due diligence phase” said the company in a statement.