Shrimp is the easiest example. According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), shrimp exports for full-year 2025 reached about USD 4.6 billion, up 19% on the year before and the highest ever recorded. In the first nine months, whiteleg shrimp made up about 65% of shrimp export value, and China together with Hong Kong took nearly 30%. Numbers like these show a big market. They do not tell a small company who to meet.
Business matching for the seafood industry is not simply pairing buyers with sellers. It is pairing the right link in a long chain. A single processor may need buyers on the output side, stable farms on the input side and a cold storage partner in the middle, all in the same year.
Six links in the chain and what each side asks
Before you book meetings, you need to know what each side is looking for. The list below is a general frame, and a specific program adjusts it to the product.
- Hatcheries look for stable farms that pay on time. They ask about pond area, stocking density and crop calendar.
- Farms look for outlets with clear pricing and trustworthy suppliers of feed, medicine and equipment. They ask about purchase price, size standards and payment terms.
- Processors look for steady raw material and buyers with repeat orders. They ask about monthly volume, residue test results and farm certification.
- Importers and traders look for suppliers who deliver on time with complete paperwork. They ask about certification, traceability, delivery terms and whether quality holds until the port.
- Retail and food service buyers look for products to their own specification. They ask about labels, packaging and quarterly fixed pricing.
- Input suppliers and cold-chain providers look for new customers at both ends of the chain.
Match by the role of the person at the table
Training material for the exhibition business splits B2B visitors into three groups: buyers who choose brands, staff who reorder, and technical specialists who usually only recommend. The article on market segmentation at trade shows goes deeper. In seafood, the three groups map closely to the category manager, the purchaser and the quality department on the buyer's side.
A sensible approach is to let the buyer's quality team meet the plant's quality team first, and only then bring the purchasing decision-maker to the price table. This avoids the situation where price is agreed and then the paperwork fails the inspection.
Three common formats
Business matching for the seafood industry usually takes one of three formats. The first is meeting at a trade show, where many buyers are present at once and appointments are booked in advance. The second is hosting a buyer delegation in Vietnam with visits to plants and farms, which suits buyers who need to see the process before placing a large order. The third is a scheduled online meeting, which costs little but makes first-time trust harder to build.
For the second format, two articles on visiting a seafood processing plant and visiting a shrimp farm explain what to prepare so the trip does not turn into a performance that misses its beat.
What the supplier needs to hold in hand
Seafood buyers rarely decide after one meeting. They go home, compare several files, and only then come back. So the file you bring decides much of whether the conversation continues. What goes in it is listed in the article on the export capability file for shrimp, covering product specifications, certification, volume and delivery terms.
One small step that works well is preparing answers to three questions: where does the raw material come from, who checks it and how often, and what happens if a lot is returned. A buyer who hears these three answered smoothly will trust you more than a good-looking price list.
The file works best when it is prepared for each market. The same plant may need one set for one market and a different set for another, because each place has its own requirements on certification and labeling. Ask each buyer in advance which set of documents they need instead of sending one general file to everyone.
When you need someone to build the program for seafood
If your seafood company or association needs business matching for the seafood industry, from inviting buyers and matching to hosting delegations on plant and shrimp farm visits, you can send a request through the quote page or book a call with Nguyễn Anh Trung. Please describe the product, the market you want to open and the expected period.
A buyer delegation needs a locked schedule early, because booking vehicles, interpreters and site permission all take time. And a schedule that reaches the right people matters more than one that reaches many.