Regarding the seasoned-type ready-to-eat eggs that Vietnam's egg-processing company Vinh Thanh Dat (V.food) first shipped to Japan in June, what the Japanese trading partner asked for next was 'peeled boiled eggs with no seasoning added.' The September 24, 2026, Dan Tri paper reports this as the account of the company's top executive. The use is as a material that domestic Japanese food-processing businesses put into their own processes-an industrial raw material. Along with it, there was a request to change the packaging from cans to bags, and the company is at the stage of having sent bagged samples that were accepted. It is not yet a mass-production order, but it can be read as a move in which Japanese food makers have begun to see Vietnam not as a supply source of finished products but as an outsourcing destination for a process.
An additional request that arrived three months after the first shipment of seasoned eggs
The June 18 container carried 172,000 eggs
Vinh Thanh Dat first sent a ready-to-eat egg product to Japan on June 18, 2026. According to the Tuoi Tre paper, the first container carried 172,000 eggs. The two companies spent nearly two years on preparation and product development, taking the advice of a Japanese expert to tailor it to Japanese consumers' tastes and food-safety requirements. The acceptance period the Japanese side gave is first 12 months, and the arrangement is to judge, based on those results, whether to issue a longer-term allotment, it is said.
What the same partner asked for next was unseasoned boiled eggs
In an interview with the Dan Tri paper, the company's top executive, Truong Chi Thien, explained that each lot of processed eggs sent to Japan was highly rated by the customer, and that exchanges on new orders and delivery plans have continued since. However, those orders are about seasoned eggs. What the Japanese side additionally brought up there was unseasoned plain boiled eggs-the provision of samples of these. This is easy to misread. The lead sentence writes that the Japanese side 'keeps ordering (dat hang)' the new peeled boiled eggs, but what the body conveys is a request for and acceptance of sample provision, and a state of waiting for the next arrangement of collaboration-it is not written that the quantity or timing of mass production has been decided.
It was the Japanese side that said it wanted to stop using cans and switch to bags
With cans, packaging and transport costs bounce back onto the price
According to Thien, some boiled-egg products have until now been presented to overseas customers in canned form. But in this form, packaging and transport costs swell and bounce back onto the product price. So the Japanese side asked for a switch to bag-type packaging to lower the cost. The idea of making the container lighter to shave the cost per egg is not the view of a buyer of finished products but the very view of the side buying raw material.
The bag sample passed, but beyond that is an arrangement still to come
The company has already sent bagged boiled-egg samples and obtained the Japanese side's acceptance. Thien sees that packaging technology and materials are improving at his own company and at other egg-processing companies, and that they can meet the Japanese side's requirements. He also said, 'If it is accepted, eggs will gain a larger-scale opportunity in the Japanese market.' What is public goes this far; no quantity or delivery date has emerged.
Lining up the price of one egg in Japan and southern Vietnam
Tokyo's wholesale quoted price and southern Vietnam's farm-gate price
Let us line up the price levels. The Tokyo egg market that JA Zen-Noh Tamago announced at 9:00 on September 25, 2026, had a base value for the M grade of 300 yen/kg, L at 305 yen, and LL at 310 yen, with the market steady and arrivals of 760 tonnes. On the other hand, the nationwide farm-gate prices (gia tai trai) carried by the Vietnamese trade journal Tap chi Chan nuoi Viet Nam are, for eggs, 1,730 dong each in the south, 1,880 dong each in the central region, and 2,100 dong each in the north. The tally date is September 22.
| Item | Japan, Tokyo | Vietnam, south |
|---|---|---|
| Price as originally stated | M base value 300 yen/kg | egg 1,730 VND each |
| Rough estimate per egg | about 18 yen (hand-calculated assuming 60 g per egg) | about 10.6 yen |
| The rate used for conversion | — | 1 yen = 163.60 VND (September 25, 2026) |
| Point in time | Announced at 9:00 on September 25, 2026 | Tallied September 22, 2026 (displayed September 25) |
| Trading stage | Wholesale quoted price | Average farm-gate price (tai trai) |
The Japanese side is the wholesale quoted price and the Vietnamese side is the farm-gate price, with different grades and tally dates. The difference of about 1.7 times (18 yen divided by 10.6 yen) cannot be read straight as a profit margin. What we want to grasp is rather the order: that there is this much of a gap in the level of shell eggs, and that if you boil and peel in Japan, domestic labor costs are loaded on top of that.
Within Vietnam, prices are falling due to oversupply
The Vietnamese side's circumstances also show up in the price. Many farms increased their flock size during the period when egg prices were high, and with supply exceeding demand, prices fell for a long time. An official of the Dong Nai Province Livestock Association told the Tuoi Tre paper on June 18 that a state of prices falling deeply due to oversupply has repeated and producers are carrying losses. Japanese buyers will want to keep in mind the premise that they are talking to the side with surplus raw material.
What Japan's processing industry wants to send abroad is the 'boil and peel' process
What is being bought is not the egg but the labor
What changed looks like only the presence or absence of seasoning, but the implication has moved greatly. A seasoned egg is a finished product that can be eaten as is, with even the taste decided at the Vietnamese plant. By contrast, a plain peeled boiled egg is an intermediate material whose use and seasoning the receiving Japanese plant decides. Being unseasoned, the range of destinations it can be directed to widens, and the ordering side need not hand its own recipe to the counterpart. In other words, what the Japanese side is trying to buy is not the egg as a material but boiling, cooling, and peeling the shell-this labor-intensive process.
Why peeling keeps requiring human hands
In peeling boiled eggs, cracks and dents directly affect the yield, so even with machines introduced, human attention tends to remain. Sending that process abroad is on the same line as the current in which Japanese food processing has entrusted primary processing abroad. the case of a Japan-Korea joint venture that first shipped 20 tonnes of chili powder to Japan As in this, exports that take on a raw-material process rather than a finished product are increasing. Boiled eggs are that with poultry entering the picture.
How local producers and researchers see this move
The conditions Associate Professor Doan cited are clean raw eggs and processing technology
Associate Professor Bui Huu Doan of the Vietnam National University of Agriculture told the Dan Tri paper that Japan is one example of a market with strict requirements for imported food, and that Vietnamese ready-to-eat eggs getting in there is evidence that domestic companies can handle process standardization, quality control, product refinement, and preparation of documents for market access. On top of that, he pointed out that exporting ready-to-eat eggs requires two foundations-clean raw eggs and processing technology-and for raw eggs he calls for provenance tracking and management of biosecurity, disease, feed, drinking water, and veterinary-drug residues.
On the processing side too, he says that unless each step from heating to storage is strictly managed, microbial safety and quality cannot be maintained. He stated, 'Exporting ready-to-eat eggs is not an easy road, but it is an important direction in which the poultry industry moves from selling fresh to cultivating a value chain and comes within reach of higher-value markets,' citing as conditions a closed production chain from the raw-material zone to the plant, and choosing products and markets without spreading oneself too thin at once.
Upstream, capital investment and the updating of information management are advancing first
This point connects with moves on the ground. In Dong Thap province, an operation where 8 people run 60,000 birds in air-conditioned chicken houses is in place, and investment to secure disease and environmental management with equipment is advancing. On the processing side too, the case of Nafoods integrating its core system with SAP As in this, companies that can output traceability by system have emerged. The 'traceable raw material' that Associate Professor Doan speaks of is becoming not an ideal but a procurable condition.
What Japanese buyers should confirm before sending an inquiry
How far do the currently public conditions go
| Item to confirm | What can be confirmed from reporting |
|---|---|
| Product form | Seasoned ready-to-eat eggs were shipped in June. For plain peeled boiled eggs, bagged samples were accepted, awaiting the next arrangement |
| Packaging | Previously some were canned. Following the Japanese side's request, bag samples were sent and accepted |
| Shipping track record | June 18, 2026, 172,000 eggs in the first container |
| Acceptance period | First 12 months (the start date is not specified in the reporting). A longer-term allotment is judged afterward |
| Conditions for raw eggs (Associate Professor Doan's points) | Provenance tracking, residue management for feed, drinking water, and veterinary drugs, and uniform shell eggs free of cracks and dirt |
| Process conditions (ditto) | Management of each step: heating, cooling, peeling, seasoning, packaging, and storage |
When does the 12-month term expire
The start date of the 12-month acceptance period is not specified in the reporting. But since it was given around the time of the June 18 first shipment, it is natural to expect that a review phase will come around mid-2027. From the buyer's view, now is a period when the supply side wants to build a track record, so they are more ready to accommodate adjustments of conditions. Thien said to the Tuoi Tre paper as of June that 'current supply capacity is quite modest relative to the partner's demand, and we are considering expanding the plant to increase supply volume,' suggesting a situation where you can go after a commitment on specifications ahead of a commitment on volume.
What to request first is samples of plain boiled eggs without your own specifications put in
If you are involved in egg procurement in Japanese processing or food service, the first move is not a quote for finished products but ordering multiple samples of plain bagged boiled eggs in different specifications (size, net content, sterilization conditions), putting them into your own process, and measuring yield and texture. As the packaging request went through, specifications are still at a movable stage. However, what can be confirmed from reporting is the story between this one company and a specific partner, and whether your own company can buy on the same conditions is a separate matter. After confirming for yourself whether import is possible and how quarantine is handled, fixing specifications ahead of volume negotiations makes it easier to gather decision material within the 12-month term.
Sources referenced
- Dan Tri, 'A Japanese trading partner seeks Vietnamese peeled boiled eggs' (September 24, 2026)
- Tap chi Chan nuoi Viet Nam, 'Vietnamese ready-to-eat eggs head to the Japanese market' (June 22, 2026, reprinted from the Tuoi Tre paper)
- Tap chi Chan nuoi Viet Nam, 'Nationwide livestock-product farm-gate prices (tallied September 22, 2026)'
- JA Zen-Noh Tamago, 'Market information' (announced at 9:00 on September 25, 2026)
- Exchange Rate API (rate as of September 25, 2026)
