Marking 25 years of establishment and growth, Viet Uc Group hosted its 25th anniversary celebration on August 8 at the Happy Palace Convention Center in Ham Thang Ward, Lam Dong Province. During the event, the group officially announced its new strategic development phase under the theme “Technological Pioneer – Elevating Prosperity”.
The ceremony was attended by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Vo Van Hung; Deputy Minister of Finance Le Tan Can; leadership representatives from Ca Mau, Khanh Hoa, An Giang, Lam Dong, and Quang Ninh provinces; alongside business partners and clients of Viet Uc Group.
Solving the Future of Aquaculture Through Science and Technology
Water source quality, seed stock performance, disease outbreaks, climate change, and increasingly stringent demands for traceability and sustainability have long plagued aquaculture farmers. As these challenges grow more complex, enterprises are no longer merely expected to supply products; they must deliver comprehensive solutions that enable farmers to operate with higher efficiency, stability, and sustainability.
Reflecting on the group’s 25-year journey to establishing its market leadership in shrimp seed production, Mr. Luong Thanh Van, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Viet Uc Group, emphasized that the company’s mission extends far beyond addressing short-term, seasonal farming issues. Instead, it focuses on resolving the aquaculture sector’s long-term challenges through science, technology, and data-driven insights.
Driven by this vision, the enterprise has positioned technological innovation as the cornerstone of its next growth phase, officially announcing its strategic transformation into an Aquaculture Technology (Aquatech) Group during its 25th anniversary celebration.
Addressing the event, Mr. Ton That De, Board Member and CEO of Viet Uc Group, shared:
“25 years is a proud journey, but Viet Uc 25+ will be an ambitious new chapter. We are fully prepared to transition from conventional aquaculture (Aquafarm) to aquaculture technology (Aquatech). Under our strategic direction of ‘Lead Local – Go Global,’ we will maintain our market-leading position in domestic breeding and seed production programs while progressively bringing Vietnam’s proprietary aquatech capabilities to the international stage.”
On this occasion, Viet Uc Group unveiled six strategic pillars: aquatic genetics, seed production, aquafeed, farming operations, seafood processing, and the upcoming launch of aqua-pharmaceuticals.
In this model, genetic technology and data serve as the core engine, seamlessly integrating the entire value chain from research and production to supportive end-user solutions. The newly introduced aqua-pharmaceutical division will focus on proactive disease prevention, developing vaccines, probiotics, and targeted health solutions for aquatic species.
Science and Technology to Drive the Industry’s Competitive Edge
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Vo Van Hung, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment, commended Viet Uc Group’s contributions over the past 25 years—particularly its relentless investment in research, technology, and talent. He emphasized that the group’s true value lies not just in its scale or market share, but in its pioneering role shifting Vietnam’s shrimp industry from a reliance on natural resources to data-driven innovation, from volume competition to quality and value creation, and from adopting technology to mastering proprietary systems.
Against the backdrop of Vietnam’s drive toward a highly competitive and sustainable aquaculture sector, the Deputy Minister emphasized that science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation will increasingly play a decisive role. He noted that the future value of seafood products will no longer be determined solely by output volumes, but rather by genetic potential, biotechnology, data analytics, automation, traceability, and the ability to effectively organize value chains.
Drawing from Viet Uc’s real-world developmental trajectory, Deputy Minister Vo Van Hung expressed high expectations for the group to maintain its pioneering role across four key fronts:
- Mastering core aquaculture technologies
- Advancing a green, circular, and low-emission shrimp industry
- Building a collaborative innovation ecosystem connecting enterprises, scientists, local authorities, and farmers
- Elevating the national brand for Vietnamese shrimp on the global stage
“It is my hope that Viet Uc Group continues to be among the trailblazers ensuring Vietnam is known not only as a major seafood exporter, but also as a nation that masters proprietary aquaculture technologies.”
Mr. Vo Van Hung, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment
New Positioning Validated by Breakthrough Genomics Genetic Technology
At the core of Viet Uc Group’s strategic transformation lies its Selective Breeding Program driven by advanced Genomics technology. Over the past 15 years, Viet Uc has continuously invested in technological innovation—starting from an initial partnership with Australia’s CSIRO to transfer technology, to today, where Viet Uc’s own team of scientists fully masters and relentlessly enhances the breeding selection program to achieve high precision.
Moving beyond traditional selection methods based on farm data and pedigree records, the enterprise has boldly invested in molecular genetic decoding. This enables precise identification of superior individual traits, laying a robust foundation to breed shrimp stocks with higher productivity, superior adaptability, and enhanced survival rates.
Viet Uc Group’s legacy lies not merely in its technology, but in generations of accumulated genetic data. This encompasses a breeding program refined continuously over many years, a massive database housing millions of genetic data points, an in-house research team, mastered technological capabilities, and an ecosystem of 18 member companies nationwide. These long-term, highly defensible assets form the solid foundation for Viet Uc’s evolution from a traditional farming operation into an Aquaculture Technology (Aquatech) Group.
According to the company, Genomics technology will expand beyond whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) to pangasius, tilapia, black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon), and other commercial species, serving as the core lever for the group’s technological expansion strategy. This capability underpins Viet Uc’s confidence in sustaining its domestic leadership in selective breeding and seed production, with a target to elevate its market share from 32% to 50% within the next five years.
Building on this foundation, Viet Uc Group has officially initiated its internationalization strategy, targeting China as its initial destination in its global expansion journey.
Furthermore, the group plans to establish an international-standard Institute of Biological and Genetic Research in the United States. Designed as an international hub bringing together leading scientists and cutting-edge technologies, the institute will focus on advanced research, advisory services, technology transfer, and the commercialization of Viet Uc’s proprietary products and services.
This shift represents far more than a simple business model transition; it reflects an ambition to build Vietnamese-owned technological capabilities—driving Vietnam’s aquaculture sector toward modern, sustainable growth and enhancing its global competitiveness.
The evolutionary journey from Aquafarm to an Aquaculture Technology (Aquatech) Group marks an inevitable step in Viet Uc Group’s strategic roadmap. Where Aquafarm laid the groundwork for market leadership in shrimp seed production, Aquatech defines a new era where genetic technology, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) serve as core drivers to solve the aquaculture industry’s long-term challenges.
Source: Lam Dong Newspaper (https://baolamdong.vn/)
