HÀ NỘI — Nam Việt Joint Stock Company started the massive Nam Việt Bình Phú high-tech aquaculture project in An Giang Province’s Châu Phú District on Tuesday.

The project is developed by Navico’s Nam Việt Bình Phú Seafood Co, Ltd on an area of 600 hectares with a total investment of VNĐ4 trillion (US$171.7 million) in the district’s Bình Phú Commune.

It will be the country’s largest-ever tra fish farming project.

The project will have one zone devoted to high-quality fingerlings of tra fish with an investment of VNĐ1 trillion and an annual capacity of 360 million units for the local market.

The other zone will use high-tech applications to rear commercial tra fish with an investment of VNĐ3 trillion and an annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes for export processing.

According to Navico, one of the project’s goals is to complete a sustainable value chain. With this project, Navico will have its own supply meet export processing demand and improve fingerling production. That will help the corporation increase exports in the future.

Đoàn Tới, Navico chairman, said the company’s total export value is expected to double to between US$250 million and 300 million, including $150 million contributed by the Bình Phú project when it comes into operation.

Fingerling shortages have been a key problem for the domestic tra fish industry, leading to a lack of raw material for export processing. Over the past three years, the lack of raw materials has pushed up the price of tra fish by 66 per cent.

Development of the production chain will help Navico lower production costs and increase the competitiveness of its products.

In 2018, Navico gained VNĐ4.1 trillion in revenue, of which, export value reached $150 million and after-tax profit was more than VNĐ600 billion. Navico’s main export markets are South America, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. — VNS