Bustling fish sauce making industry

Ms. Le Thi Truong Han with her fish sauce products.

Great profits from freshwater fish

Vinh Tuong commune is a low-lying area, from July to October of the lunar calendar every year the water will flood the fields. Instead of growing rice, people here raise fish in the fields, or catch freshwater fish. This is the main ingredient for the local fish sauce industry.

Growing up in this land, Ms. Le Thi Truong Han in Hamlet 3, Vinh Tuong Commune, was passed down the experience of making fish sauce from previous generations. Initially, she only fermented fish sauce for family use. About 10 years ago, she started making fish sauce in large quantities and developed it into Thao Nguyen Fish Sauce Production Facility.

Ms. Han said: "On average, each year, my facility supplies the market with about 8 tons of fish sauce and 3,000 liters of freshwater fish sauce. To ensure this supply, I have to purchase and process more than 10 tons of freshwater fish of all kinds. All of the fish sauce is made during the flood season, because this is when freshwater fish are most abundant and have the cheapest price."

This season, snakehead fish is bought by Mrs. Han at 60,000-70,000 VND/kg, goby fish at 35,000 VND/kg, perch and snakehead fish at 25,000-30,000 VND/kg. After preliminary processing, the fish are fermented for nearly half a year before being packaged and sold on the market. As for the fish sauce, the fermentation period lasts nearly 1 year. Snakehead fish sauce is sold at 140,000 VND/kg; perch and snakehead fish sauce at 70,000-80,000 VND/kg, and snakehead fish sauce at 40,000 VND/liter. The annual revenue of Thao Nguyen Fish Sauce Production Facility is about 800 million VND.

Currently, Ms. Han's facility has one snakehead fish sauce product that meets the 3-star OCOP standard and is building OCOP standards for the remaining products. According to Ms. Han, the abundant source of freshwater fish during the flood season in the locality will ensure the facility can expand its production scale in the near future.

Although not producing in large quantities like Thao Nguyen Fish Sauce Production Facility, since the beginning of the flood season, Le Van Ngo business household in Hamlet 3, Vinh Thuan Dong Commune, has also made nearly 1 ton of fish sauce to sell next year. The facility representative said that this production is to maintain the brand of the two products of snakehead fish sauce and Sau Ngo fish sauce, which have achieved 3-star OCOP standards for more than 4 years. Currently, snakehead fish sauce and Sau Ngo fish sauce are consumed locally and at OCOP product sales points in Can Tho City and on social networking sites.

Bringing fish sauce far and wide

Every year, Viet Dung Trading Company Limited, located in Thuan Hoa Hamlet, Xa Phien Commune, supplies the market with more than 20 tons of various types of fish sauce. During the flood season, the company takes advantage of purchasing fish and producing about 10 tons of fish sauce. The fish sauce brewed from this time will be sold during the upcoming Lunar New Year and next year.

Currently, Viet Dung Trading Company Limited has 2 product lines of fish sauce, including raw fish sauce such as snakehead fish sauce, snakehead fish sauce, perch fish sauce and linh fish sauce. In particular, the instant fish sauce line includes steamed snakehead fish sauce and canned steamed snakehead fish sauce. Currently, 200 gram steamed snakehead fish sauce costs 50,000 VND/can; 250 gram steamed snakehead fish sauce costs 40,000 VND/can; raw snakehead fish sauce costs 150,000 VND/kg; linh fish sauce costs 100,000 VND/kg; perch fish sauce and sac fish sauce costs 80,000 VND/kg.

Mr. Pham Van Dung, Director of Viet Dung Trading Company Limited, said: "The company currently has 5 fish sauce products that meet the 3-star OCOP standard. In particular, instant fish sauce products are popular because of their deliciousness and convenience. Not only consumed domestically through OCOP points of sale, canned fish sauce is also sought after and regularly ordered by the Vietnamese community abroad."

Although it has only recently been launched on the market, each year, Viet Dung Trading Company Limited consumes about 10,000 cans of instant fish sauce and a large quantity of raw fish sauce, with a revenue of more than 2 billion VND/year. In addition to selling through traditional channels, the company also promotes consumption on social networking sites such as Zalo, TikTok... Thereby, creating jobs for about 10 local workers with an income of 5-7 million VND/person/month.

When the flood season comes, the caught freshwater fish are preserved by the establishments through the delicious and unique flavor of each type of fish sauce. Currently, many freshwater fish sauce products in Can Tho City have established brands and have reached far in the market, bringing the specialties of the West to many regions in and outside the country...

Article and photos: DANG THU

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/nhon-nhip-nghe-lam-mam-ca-dong-a194820.html