VietNamNet Bridge – In the world, the market of the products relating to salanganes has the turnover of 6-7 billion dollars per annum and the growth rate of 7.2 percent per annum. In Vietnam, farming salanganes has become a movement, while a lot of brands have appeared. The industry has attracted foreign investors as well. How is the “white gold” market attractive then?

The special commercial affair

In late May 2011, VinaCapital, one of the biggest investment fund management companies in Vietnam unexpectedly announced the cooperation with Vietnamese Yen Viet Joint Stock Company, specializing in making and trading salangane products.

In the deal, VinaCapital would inject 7.5 million dong in Yen Viet to help the company strengthen distribution channels, promote production and develop products, improve the corporate governance skill and prepare for the plan to list its shares on the bourse.

The investment deal by VinaCapital has been commented as a wise investment deal. Statistics show that in 2010, the world’s salangane product market had the total revenue of 6.3 billion dollars.

According to VinaCapital, with national advantages, Vietnam’s salangane products can be made at the lower production costs but higher quality in comparison with the products made in other four countries – Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

The national advantages mean the favorable geographical and weather conditions, and the lower industrialization level of Vietnam.

According to VinaCapital, there are two reasons that prompted it to invest in Yen Viet.

First, salangane is an industry with great potentials because salagane products have a vast market. Second, Yen Viet has a suitable scale of operation and has good brand enough to develop.

Yen Viet now has 18 houses for breeding salanganes with high productivity located from Phu Yen to Ca Mau province. It has the average exploitation capacity of 2 tons per annum and a salangane nest processing factory in the Thanh Hai industrial zone in Phan Rang which can churn out 5 million tons of products per annum.

Business grows together with salanganes’ nests

Besides Yen Viet, other salangane enterprises in Vietnam have also announced the plans to expand their business. Declining to reveal the number of existing houses for breeding salanganes, Le Danh Hoang, Director of Chan Hung Trade and Service Company, which owns Hoang Yen brand, said that his company is gathering all possible resources for the investment.

Hoang Yen now has seven shops and restaurants in HCM City, Hanoi and Nha Trang, which has the average growth rate of 60 percent per annum. Hoang Yen is trying to build concentrated salangane breeding areas which can create stable supplies. Besides, it is also striving to develop the distribution network.

The two existing salangane breeding areas consisting of 10-14 houses for breeding salanganes are being built by the company in HCM City and Binh Phuoc. It is expected that in the next three years, Hoang Yen would have 35 more sale points in HCM City, Hanoi and other big cities.

Viet An Company, which is owning Thien Hoang brand, has also been gearing up for investment. Pham Thi Ngoc yen, Managing Director of Thien Hoang Brand, said that five months ago, Thien Hoang marketed a new product – swallow’s nutrition drink

Thien Hoang has refused the orders from China and Taiwan because it still does not have enough supplies. However, it hopes that its products would appear in South East Asian and European market.

Vietnam’s salanganes’ nests are priced at 2000-2500 dollars per kilo, double that of Malaysia. However, the output is limited, just equal to 10 percent of that in regional countries. FAO believes that the total demand for salanganes’ products would be 10 billion dollars in 2012.

Doanh Nhan Saigon