Pangasius Production and Farming

Since the mid-2000s the filet of Pangasius hypophthalmus enjoys a huge success at fishmongers and hypermarkets, not only because of its competitive price, but also because its white filet is boneless and of a mild flavor. In most cases Pangasius production means farming. Read about the whole farming process for the case of Vietnam:

Pangasius Farming in Vietnam

The Vietnamese have literally “launched” a new Pangasius industry on the world market starting in 1996-1997. As Pangasius supports a high stocking density and grows extremely quick, a big industry evolved during the last fifteen years. Pangasius does not feature only a fairly good environmental performance, but its farming does not even require a high consumption of other animal based food.

Pangasius Production

In nature, Pangasius can live up to twenty years, while the fish breeds once or twice a year; producing some 2,000 eggs per spawning. However, with artificial ovulation, it can reach hundreds of millions of eggs. The Pangasius can be harvested already after some 5 to 8 months. When it comes to Pangasius farming, the breeding place is composed of several basins with a size of some 500 m² and a depth of 2.5 m to 3 m. The Pangasius is fed with fish offal, small shrimp, soy flour, wheat, or even beans.

When Pangasius are raised, the water is constantly maintained at a temperature of 28° C, what makes the Fish to reproduce faster. Thus, one can gain per cage m³ a yield of 100 to 300 kg of fish. This high efficiency compared to the farmed salmon from Norway, with a yield of only 30 kilograms per cubic meters explains the competitive price of Pangasius.

Pangasius Processing

At the end of the production cycle a Pangasius will weigh some 900 grams up to 1.5 kilograms. The fish is then transported to a nearby industrial area where it will be sliced and frozen. Freezing is virtually inevitable, given the high distance to the destination markets in Western countries. After freezing, the Pangasius will be packaged and stored, and finally transported by ship or aircraft to the destination markets.

Pangasius Export and Shipping

For transport the Pangasius to its destination markets some documents will be necessary:

The packing list

The health certificate (issued by the Ministry of Fisheries in Vietnam NAFIQUAVED)

A Certificate of Origin (issued by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Vietnam VCCI).

Eventually, after the Pangasius arrived it might be thawed and sold to wholesalers, purchasing centers and the like. Some of course, are sold frozen.

The whole process will delay the time until the fish will reach the customer by roughly 15 days. It may take 1 day for the fishery, on the second day the fish will be processed, while it has to wait afterwards 3 more days to get the product specifications done and another 7 days for the health certificate. Finally, the export will take some other 3 days for the Pangasius to arrive.