Vietnam's processed food industry has great potential for development.

Therefore, to take advantage of the large and dynamic market opportunities and gradually integrate into the international economy , food processing enterprises need to grasp new trends and technologies in production and business, increasingly diversify products, as well as production technology; focus on building solutions to attract investment, orienting sustainable development, increasing the capacity to exploit favorable conditions such as geographical location of economic centers, trading hubs, etc.

According to the representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade , the production value of the food processing industry accounts for 19.1% of the processing and manufacturing industry group in Vietnam. This is the industry with the highest proportion among the processing and manufacturing industries, demonstrating the importance of the industry in ensuring the food needs of the people as well as meeting export requirements. In addition, the high proportion of production value shows that the food processing and manufacturing industry has many strengths with many large, reputable brands, a stable market and high competitiveness compared to foreign enterprises and there is still much room for development.

In particular, after the free trade agreements that Vietnam has signed come into effect, the food processing industry will open up a larger consumer and investment market. The number of enterprises operating in the food processing industry is not large (accounting for nearly 01% of the total number of enterprises nationwide), but this is one of the key industries with great development potential in Vietnam, accounting for more than 20% of the annual net revenue from production and business of the processing and manufacturing industries.

Dr. Le Minh Hung - Director of the Institute of Agricultural Electromechanics and Post-harvest Technology, Semi-organic Lecturer of the Faculty of Food Technology, Saigon University of Technology shared: "Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export value in 2022 reached 3.34 billion USD, down 5.9% compared to 2021. Of which, fresh and frozen fruit and vegetable exports reached 2.32 billion USD; processed fruit and vegetable exports reached 1.014 billion USD. The proportion of processed fruit and vegetable exports in the total fruit and vegetable export turnover increased from 26% in 2021 (923 million/3.52 billion USD) to 30.4% in 2022 (1.014 billion/3.34 billion USD)". Thereby, it shows the great potential for Vietnam's processed food industry, and at the same time has great attraction for foreign investors.

Besides the number of enterprises operating in the field of processing and producing vegetables and fruits accounting for the highest proportion in the structure of enterprises in the food processing industry, the frozen seafood processing industry is the industry that attracts the most workers.

Regarding this issue, Dr. Nguyen Van Nguyen, Director of the Center for Aquaculture Feed and Post-Harvest Technology (APOTEC) - Aquaculture Research Institute 2 emphasized: “In 2022 alone, the growth rate of aquatic product production value (2010 comparable price) increased by 4.1% compared to 2021, total aquatic product output reached 9.026 million tons, up 2.7% compared to 2021 (8.79 million tons), of which the exploitation output reached 3.86 million tons, down 1.8% compared to 2021, aquaculture reached 5.16 million tons, up 6.4% compared to 2021. Aquaculture export turnover in 2022 is estimated to reach a record of about 11 billion USD, up 23.8% over the same period in 2021 (8.89 billion USD), up 22.2% compared to the plan, of which the Aquaculture products account for 65-70%, and exploited seafood products account for 30-35% of the total turnover value. The country has over 847 processing factories that ensure food safety, of which 692 factories have export codes to the EU. This number is 1.4-4.0 times larger than that of Thailand, India and Indonesia.

According to the European Business Association, the M&A market in the food manufacturing and processing industry in Vietnam is flourishing and developing strongly. In recent years, there have been many M&A deals in the food industry (mergers and acquisitions of food processing companies) and this trend is forecast to continue in the coming years. Typical deals include CJ Group (Korea) buying 65% of shares of Minh Dat Food Company Limited and buying 47.33% of shares of Cau Tre Export Processing Joint Stock Company; Daesang Corp (Korea) buying 100% of shares of Duc Viet Food Joint Stock Company; Earth Chemical (Japan) buying 100% of shares of A My Gia Joint Stock Company... M&A transactions are considered by many investors as the most effective way to penetrate the market and expand business operations in Vietnam. The number and value of completed M&A transactions in Vietnam have been on a steady growth path in recent years. M&A is expected to continue to grow further in the context of the EVFTA coming into effect.

The issue of improving the quality of exported rice to maintain traditional markets and expand to new markets, especially in the context of increasingly high quality requirements of importing countries, is also of interest to businesses. According to information from the Vietnam Food Association, the export price of our country's rice has continuously increased in recent months. Improving quality to maintain high prices is an opportunity for the rice export turnover in 2023 to reach the expected level of nearly 4 billion USD.

Mr. Vo Cong Thuc - Quality Director of Loc Troi Group shared that recently, Loc Troi Group Joint Stock Company has cooperated with a number of localities to implement the model "Footprint-free fields". This is a model to improve the production process to reduce the amount of seeds used (30% reduction), the amount of fertilizer and pesticides used by 20% through synchronous mechanization. When implemented, farmers will be trained in the entire process to help reduce the amount of pesticides used in the fields but still ensure productivity, while improving the quality of agricultural products, so it is very convenient in the consumption stage and brings a stable source of income for farmers.

In addition, Ms. Uyen Nguyen - Representative of Sontag Consult Consulting Company (Germany) and Dr. Thomas Croci - R&D Director of Studio Tecnico Appiani Company - Milan (Italy) said that the solution for rice preservation and post-harvest processing projects is also a direction that needs attention to contribute to increasing the value of rice grains. The rice market still has some high-end processed products that are less noticed, such as rice noodles, dried vermicelli... These are products that European customers really like, because they can be preserved for a long time and importantly, these products do not contain pesticide residues.

Mr. Nguyen Tuan, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Trade and Investment Promotion Center, emphasized that for Ho Chi Minh City alone, the food processing industry is one of the four key industries prioritized for development in the City, accounting for 13.78% of the total industrial production value, contributing 13.69% of the total industrial value added. The City People's Committee has issued a Program to support the development of enterprises and products in the food processing industry in Ho Chi Minh City for the period 2020 - 2030.

To quickly seize opportunities and increase competitiveness, food enterprises need to focus on investing heavily in modern equipment and technology to improve production capacity, quality, and build brands and promote products. At the same time, relevant units need to develop plans for raw material areas through fundamental solutions to increase the effectiveness of linkages between provinces and cities, between farmers - production enterprises - managers to create stable raw material areas./.

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