VietNamNet Bridge – The salanganes’ nest market has witnessed big changes after the hand joining between VinaCapital, an investment fund, and Yen Viet Company. The members of the market understand that they have to make heavier investment or leave the market.

Trillions of dong in turnover, hundreds of billions of dong in investment

After joining hands with VinaCapital and receiving the investment sum of 7.5 million dollars from the investment fund, Yen Viet has made a big leap in changing its face through a noisy branding campaign.

Vo Thai Lam, General Director of Yen Viet, said that in order to obtain one trillion dong worth of turnover by 2015, Yen Viet has to continue its restructure process, expand its distribution network throughout the country and reach out to nearby markets including Hong Kong, China and Singapore.

Lam said Yen Viet has spent 60 billion dong to increase the processing capacity to 10 million jars of bird nest in the time to come and to 28 million jars by 2015.

Khanh Hoa Salanganes Nest Company, one of the biggest companies in the field, is also moving ahead with its intensive investment plan. A material processing factory has been built in Dien Khanh district which has the capacity of 30 million products a year. A factory making high grade drink products from salanganes nests has also been built in Cam Ranh City which would churn out 50 million products per annum.

Le Huu Hoang, Chair of the Khanh Hoa Salanganes Nest Company, said the company has exported its first consignment of 200,000 products to Australia. It is considering exporting products to Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan as well.

Market undergoes restructuring

Reports show that the world’s market of salangane-related products has the total revenue of 6-7 billion dollars a year and the annual growth rate of 7.2 percent per annum.

The Vietnamese market has also been witnessing strong and stable growth rate in recently years with a series of brands coming out and developing namely: Yen Viet, Hoang Yen, Thien Hoang Khanh Hoa Salanganes Nest and Bao Ngoc.

Yen Viet has 18 salangane houses located in the areas from Phu Yen to Ca Mau provinces, which can provide 2 tons of materials a year. Its salangane nest processing factory with the investment capital of four million dollars in the Thanh Hai industrial zone can churn out 5 million products a year.

The heavy investments by Yen Viet or Khanh Hoa Salanganes Nest Company have made the face of the market change a lot. Smaller companies will have to inject more money to become bigger, or quit the market.

Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company has reported the total turnover of 1181 billion dong in the first half of the year, up by 46 percent, while Yen Cung Dinh up by 25 percent and Hoang Yen 20 percent. However, they would have to change the business plan if they want to exist in the competition with the big guys.

Do Xuan Hung, Director of Thien Phu Loc Company Ltd, which is owning Yen Cung Dinh brand, said his company now builds a salangane house with the area of 2000 square meters in Binh Phuoc province.

Le Danh Hoang, Director of Chan Hung Company Ltd, which owns Hoang Yen brand, said that with the limited capability, the company would not be able to confront big brands; therefore, it has decided to retail its products itself.

Chan Hung undertakes all the phases of the production chain, from farming salanganes, collecting bird nests, processing, retailing and serving at restaurants. It is now managing 10 showrooms and four restaurants.

Doanh Nhan