The 'High-Tech Shrimp Farming Cooperative (HTX Nuoi tom cong nghe cao Cam Pha)' in Cam Pha City, Quang Ninh province in northern Vietnam, has demonstrated a system that turns over whiteleg shrimp seven to nine times a year in housed farming across about 8 hectares and 12 ponds, raising them to the 30-shrimp/kg size in about 90 days and shipping them. It is a regional move that departs from the previous premise that shrimp farming means the Mekong Delta, and it is also advancing management that meets the import standards of the EU, US, and Japan. Japan's imported shrimp relies heavily on Vietnam, Indonesia, and India, and in considering how far the supply source can be widened, the northern intensive model is material not to be overlooked.
7 to 9 turnovers a year across 8 ha and 12 ponds, 30 shrimp/kg in 90 days — Cam Pha cooperative's numbers
This cooperative got off the ground in early 2024, investing about 15 billion dong (about ¥88 million at ¥1 ≈ 170 dong) in infrastructure including housing, machinery, and electrical equipment. The site is about 8 hectares, equipped with 12 farming ponds of 1,000 square meters each, 6 of which are allocated to water treatment and storage. Covered with a roof and combining automated water treatment with IoT water-quality monitoring, it is set up to operate year-round regardless of weather.
What the cooperative shows as its result is the number of turnovers: where a conventional open-air pond stops at one to two a year, here it reaches seven to nine a year. One farming round is about 90 days, but by using a three-stage method that runs the nursery rearing of shrimp fry in a separate pond, it shortens the occupancy period of the main farming pond, so even on a 90-day cycle it can pile up seven to nine turnovers a year on the same site. The shipping size is 30 shrimp/kg. Annually it supplies 450 to 500 tonnes of whiteleg shrimp to the market, averaging about 45 tonnes a month. The very concept of production differs from open-air extensive farming.
| Item | Conventional open-air pond | Cam Pha cooperative's improved housed type |
|---|---|---|
| Annual farming turnovers | 1 to 2 turnovers | 7 to 9 turnovers |
| Days per turnover | Depends on season and weather | About 90 days |
| Environmental management | Left to the weather | Housing cover + automated water treatment + IoT water-quality monitoring |
| Shipping specification | Large variation | Evened to 30 shrimp/kg |
| Annual supply volume (one cooperative) | — | 450 to 500 tonnes |
A three-stage farming divided into 25-day segments supports the 90-day cycle
The 90-day brevity comes from the three-stage method that separately manages the nursery rearing of shrimp fry. The first stage (the first roughly 25 days) is allotted to nursery rearing, directly raising the fry inside the housing and strictly managing water temperature and quality to firm up the early yield. The second stage (the next roughly 25 days) increases feed to promote growth, and the third stage carries them to shipping while adjusting feed amount and density. Rather than raising them all at once in the open air, an operation that moves them pond to pond by stage to avoid overcrowding reconciles a short turnover with uniform specifications.
This method is called an 'improved housed type (nha bat cai tien)' and is also a device for aiming at year-round production in locations like the north where a drop in winter water temperature is unavoidable. In the south's constantly warm environment, multiple turnovers are possible even in the open air, but to produce seven or more turnovers a year in a north with four seasons, building up the cover and water management is a prerequisite. Across Quang Ninh province as a whole, shrimp is farmed on about 7,500 hectares at more than 2,250 production sites, with annual output reaching about 30,000 tonnes. One cooperative's demonstration is on a scale that could prime the upgrading of the whole province.
What it means for a northern region to join Mekong-Delta-only procurement
From here, let us interpret it from the Japanese side. Vietnam holds a top place in Japan's shrimp imports, and the bulk of that Vietnamese product has been concentrated in the Mekong Delta, such as Ca Mau and Bac Lieu provinces. Ca Mau's farming is mainly large-scale, low-density extensive, and while its sustainability is questioned in terms of price and environmental load, it carries year-to-year yield variation and weather risk. The more procurement is concentrated in one region, the more easily localized events such as floods, salt damage, and high water temperature directly hit delivery stability.
On that point, Quang Ninh province is geographically located at the northern tip, more than 1,500 km from the Mekong Delta, with a low correlation of climate risk. In addition, it holds Mong Cai on the China border and is also a logistics node. If the Cam Pha type, which earns turnovers through intensive farming, grows in the north, it adds one supply source with characteristics different from the south's extensive farming. Regional dispersion is effective in building 'procurement that never runs out' before unit-price negotiations. How to combine north and south in actual region selection is an article tracking how Japan's procurement, in third place, moves as China rises to the largest market for Vietnamese seafood read together, brings the outline into focus. As another solution combined with rice farming, the case of co-culturing giant freshwater prawns in Thanh Hoa's paddies is also on the extension of the same thinking of 'raising the value per unit of land.'
Three points to secure in a first deal trying Quang Ninh product
That said, building a demonstration-stage model directly into procurement requires caution. First, the continuity of volume: 450 to 500 tonnes a year is one cooperative's scale, and against the lots Japanese trading houses and processors demand, how to bundle multiple cooperatives becomes a challenge. Next, traceability: even with the banner of EU, US, and Japan destinations, whether pond-level records and growing-area codes are actually issued and maintained needs individual confirmation. Vietnam is in the midst of institutional reform reviewing the requirements for obtaining growing-area codes, and the current state of that is an article summarizing the removal of the cooperative requirement and the shift to post-facto inspection is detailed.
In practice, three points are worth securing in a first deal: (1) whether the 30-shrimp/kg shipping specification is a size that fits Japanese uses (peeled shrimp, sushi topping, prepared dishes), (2) whether the cost structure, which depends on housing electricity, swings with the power situation, and (3) disclosure of the number of ponds in operation and the number of shrimp in the ponds, which backs up year-round supply. The northern region is still thin as an option, but as a move to dilute the risk of relying solely on the south, there is value in starting with sample requests and small-lot trials.
