Kyokuyo expands sales of Vietnamese pangasius in Japan: why did exports to Japan grow 20%?

The major Japanese seafood company Kyokuyo presented about 500 seafood and processed-food items to roughly 760 trading partners at its own business fair held in Osaka on September 11. At the event organized by its four branches in Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, one of the items it proposed was fillets of frozen Vietnamese pangasius (cá tra), the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) reported on September 18. The author is Le Hang, VASEP deputy secretary general.

By the association's tally, exports to Japan were US$36.31 million for January-August 2026, up 20.8% year on year. August alone was US$5.47 million, up 23.7%. The amount itself is small; pangasius exports worldwide over the same eight months were US$1.5 billion, of which Japan is only 2.4%. Even so, the reason it is worth Japanese food processing and foodservice taking note is that the growth rate is double the overall (up 10%), and the party doing the selling is not a local exporter but Kyokuyo, which has sales channels within Japan. Its positioning shifts to a raw material whose negotiating counterpart is domestic.

Kyokuyo put Vietnamese pangasius among the 500 items at its Osaka business fair

As one item among 500 it is modest. But the items a general seafood company lines up at its own business fair are usually tied to the next year's sales plan, and VASEP sees Kyokuyo as moving to expand sales together with the Tokyo show. It can be read as shelving on the premise of selling year-round, not a one-off introduction.

At the Tokyo seafood show it even put out tastings

The same article reports that at the international seafood show in Tokyo on August 19-21, Kyokuyo listed pangasius as one of its focus items and prepared tastings and product demonstrations for its business counterparts. It has brought things to the stage of letting them taste and nailing down specifications. Note that what could be confirmed is VASEP-side reporting; Kyokuyo's own announcement could not be traced.

What is for sale is skinless, boneless frozen fillets processed in Vietnam

What Kyokuyo presents is skinless, boneless frozen pangasius fillets processed in Vietnam, described as a material that suits Japanese, Western and Chinese cooking alike. In a form where skinning and deboning are finished locally, almost no pre-processing labor arises at domestic plants or kitchens. Because yield is readable, it is easy to handle from the cost-calculation stage.

Exports to Japan of US$36.31 million, with a growth rate double the overall

Built up from US$20 million in January-May to US$36.31 million in eight months

Lining up VASEP's monthly tallies, the growth toward Japan has not broken off since the start of this year. There was a month where May alone fell to up 8%, but August alone recovered to up 23.7%.

Seen against total exports of US$1.5 billion, Japan is a small 2.4% customer

Vietnam's pangasius exports were US$1.5 billion over eight months, up 10%. August alone was US$205 million, up 6%. China leads, accounting for 27% of export value, with US$417 million cumulative over eight months, up 29%. August alone also grew to US$60 million, up 18%. Japan's US$36.31 million is about one-eleventh of China's, a small buyer from the production area's view. Its priority is lower, but it is also a scale at which the grades it requires are easy to get through.

Exports to the US fell 14% over eight months; August dropped to less than half

The figures for Japan alone will lead you to misread the reason for the growth. The production-area side's circumstances loom large. According to VASEP's September 15 article, exports to the US fell about 14% over eight months and dropped over 50% in August alone. A 10% import surcharge applied for 150 days from February 24, 2026, and when that ended on July 24, a 12.5% additional tariff under Section 301 followed.

In the POR21 final results, Vietnam's overall rate was set at US$2.39/kg

In the final results of the 21st administrative review (POR21) of the anti-dumping duty, Vietnamese operators without an individual rate were placed at US$2.39/kg. Given the unit-price level of fillets, it is a weight that makes deals hard to close.

A proposed annual import quota of 84,000 tonnes and a rate of up to 200% are also in motion

The same article also touches on a proposal to set a quota of 84,000 tonnes a year (84 trieu kg in the original) on catfish imported from Vietnam, levying 50% within the quota and up to 200% above it. US retail is also weak on the demand side, with fresh seafood sales down over 7% and frozen down over 7% in sales and over 8% in volume. It is natural for the production area to change its direction, and the matter of Godaco steering toward Asian markets amid the stall in shrimp exports to the US The same dynamic is at work in white fish too.

Frozen fillets 82%, processed goods 11%. Which to build your procurement slot around

From here it is practical. VASEP's September 3 article shows the item composition of exports to Japan as about 82% frozen fillets under HS0304, 7% other HS03 categories, and 11% processed and value-added goods under HS16. In the July 14 article HS16 was 9.8%, so it rose 1.2 points in about two months.

How you choose the plant changes depending on whether you buy as a material or as a semi-finished product

If you buy frozen fillets as a material, what you look at is size grade, glaze rate, drip and variation in the white flesh's color tone. Because you season it domestically, what you ask of the plant narrows to reproducibility of the grade. If you buy HS16 processed goods, the Japanese side needs to decide and hand over the seasoning, batter and heating specifications in advance. The Vietnamese side does not have the range of Japanese foodservice flavors, so throwing it over wholesale produces things that do not fit the shelf.

The move on the processed-goods side is also shown in the matter of Vinh Hoan's salted pangasius croquette winning the top prize at Seafood Excellence Asia 2026. If the production area's majors are at a stage of trying to break out of material shipping, bringing in specifications from the Japanese side makes it easy to take shape.

Buy from domestic inventory, or team up directly with a production-area plant

If you buy from a company that holds domestic inventory, like Kyokuyo, the lead time is short and the counterpart also bears the swings in exchange rates and tariffs. You can enter trial production from a small volume, so the early phase is fast. But inventory cost rides on the raw-material price. Once the annual lot exceeds several tens of tonnes and the grade can be fixed, teaming up directly with a production-area export plant lowers the cost.

Plants that can put out the same grade year-round are limited even within Vietnam

VASEP's September 3 article writes that Japanese consumers and importers demand quality, food safety, traceability and product stability at a high level, and concludes that one should approach it with a long-term strategy rather than rapidly growing export volume. That the association writes this for its own members also means there are plants that do not reach that level.

White fish is in short supply worldwide; the production area's bargaining power is rising

The supply of wild white fish is thinning worldwide, and room for pangasius is widening in the EU too. VASEP covered this structure in its July 31 article: exports to the EU were US$91 million in the first half, up 3%. By the September 13 article, exports to the UK were US$43 million in January-July, up 23%, and US$7 million in July alone, up 30%. In a situation where Japan is not the only buyer, hammering only on price will get you put off to later. the gap that a global white-fish shortage opened in Japanese foodservice sourcing we touched on before, but this year the form is that a major Japanese seafood company entered that gap first.

The industry's view is aligned on 'it will grow, but with conditions attached'

The industry voices that could be confirmed share the same direction but differ in temperature. In the September 18 article, Le Hang presented the view that it is an opportunity to reposition it from being treated as a cheap white fish to a raw material equipped with price competitiveness, quality stability, ease of processing and year-round supply. The association's editorial desk wrote in the September 22 article that 'differentiation among markets is advancing,' with China and Brazil growing and the US falling. The September 3 article organizes that HS16 processed goods, though still low in ratio, have room to grow, and that quality stability is a condition for that growth. All are messaging from the association side, and the point that they are not appraisals from the Japanese real-demand side needs to be read with a discount.

Three items to decide internally before collecting business cards

Both Kyokuyo's Osaka business fair and the Tokyo seafood show are over as of this article. It is faster to firm up internal conditions than to wait for the next event. The three points are: (1) material or semi-finished product; (2) the assumed annual volume and the ceiling on unit price; and (3) how far to fix the grade (size, glaze rate, tolerance range for color tone). Once these are decided, you can take quotes under the same conditions from both a company that holds domestic inventory and a production-area export plant.

First, have one company produce its monthly shipment record and off-grade rate

The first move is to narrow the candidates to one company and have it produce its export volume to Japan over the past 12 months and the off-grade rate month by month. An annual average or quarters do not reveal the reality of a production area where the raw fish's size moves between the rainy and dry seasons. If there is a month where the off-grade rate spikes, write the handling of it into the contract. The 20.8% rise is closer to the reality if thought of as growth taken in starting with the buyers who finished that handling.

Materials referenced in this article

• VASEP / Kyokuyo's pangasius sales expansion and exports to Japan (September 18, 2026)
• VASEP / review of eight months of pangasius exports (September 22, 2026)
• VASEP / tariffs and demand for the US (September 15, 2026)
• VASEP / item composition for Japan and ratios by HS category (September 3, 2026)
• VASEP / Japan's convenience orientation and the processed-goods ratio (July 14, 2026)
• VASEP / growth for the UK (September 13, 2026)
• VASEP / white-fish shortage and room in the EU market (July 31, 2026)
• VASEP / Vinh Hoan's croquette award (September 14, 2026)
• Kyokuyo Co., Ltd., 'Company Profile'