Can Tho City in Vietnam's Mekong Delta has put forward a plan to grow tilapia (Vietnamese ca ro phi, a white-fleshed freshwater fish) into a strategic export fish species. The city's agriculture and environment department, starting from 604 hectares of farming area as of the end of 2025, has set out to expand the production region to 96,500 hectares of potentially suitable land, and has registered with the Ministry of Agriculture for participation in a US-led five-year value-chain improvement project. Within an export vision targeting the US, Brazil and Japan, sashimi and sushi fillets are named as the use for Japan. For Japanese seafood buyers, this is about whether one more light, mild domestic-substitute raw material is added.
The substance of the "production-region building" Can Tho envisions
The gist of the originating report is this. Quach Thi Thanh Binh, deputy director of Can Tho City's agriculture and environment department, said the city has built up considerable results in tilapia farming and is ready to join the US-bound supply network. The city supplies more than 30 million fry a year, but this covers only about 60% of regional demand, with the rest sourced from Dong Thap and An Giang provinces. In processing, Thai Kim Anh has a processing capacity of 200 tonnes a day and handles both fillets and whole fish. Vietnam Clean Aquaculture is said to be the first Vietnamese company to develop tilapia fillets for Japan's sashimi and sushi market.
What is worth noting here is that Can Tho's move is designed not as a one-off export but as a "production-region strategy." The figure of 96,500 hectares of potentially suitable land is two orders of magnitude different from the current 604 hectares. The city surely does not intend to fill the whole amount at once, but flipping the current 60% self-sufficiency in fry, it can also be read as the city itself acknowledging that the biggest bottleneck in region-building lies in upstream fry supply.
Why tilapia now
Behind this is the fact that Vietnamese tilapia exports surged in 2025. In a VASEP-affiliated tally, tilapia export value for January to August 2025 (including red tilapia) exceeded US$63 million, up 174% year on year. Of that, tilapia alone was US$52 million, up 359%, with the US accounting for about 70%. For the full year, growth of about US$99 million, more than 140%, is expected. Behind the trade friction in which the US placed high tariffs on Chinese product, Vietnam ended up filling the supply gap.
Japan is positioned as a destination for diversifying away from this US skew. Tilapia has few bones and mild flesh and goes well with fillet processing. Vietnam already has a track record of running white-fish fillet exports to the US and Europe at large scale in pangasius (basa), and it can expand that processing and quality-control know-how horizontally to tilapia. Can Tho's plan is close to the idea of placing a new fish species on top of this existing infrastructure.
Can Tho's tilapia in numbers
| Item | Figure | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Farming area (end of 2025) | 604 hectares | Starting point for region-building |
| Potentially suitable land | 96,500 hectares | The city's expansion-target area |
| Fry supply | More than 30 million a year | About 60% of regional demand self-supplied |
| Processing capacity (Thai Kim Anh) | 200 tonnes a day | Both fillet and whole fish |
| Production cost | About 26,000 dong/kg (about 153 yen) | Converted at about 170 dong to the yen |
| Market rate when prices fall | 22,000 dong/kg (about 129 yen) | The level at which farmers turn to a loss |
The figures of a market rate falling to 22,000 dong against a production cost of 26,000 dong show that the region is still fragile to price fluctuation. If a Japanese sourcing manager sets up a long-term contract, a design that grasps this break-even line and buys in to support a price band where farmers do not run a loss becomes a negotiating card.
Reactions on the ground and in the industry
Deputy director Quach Thi Thanh Binh stated plainly that the city is ready to join the US-bound tilapia supply network. That the administration is waving the flag for the region is a positive factor for buyers seeking stable raw-material supply.
Coordinating the value chain is ICAFIS (the International Collaborating Centre for Aquaculture and Fisheries Sustainability), which promotes sustainable farming and fisheries. You can see a stance of trying to design not just processing and export but everything from seed through farming and traceability as one piece.
On the seed side, Israel's Tiran Shipping Group is involved in research on dedicated varieties such as white tilapia, salt-tolerant black tilapia and red tilapia. That foreign capital is moving on variety improvement is proof that Can Tho's plan has export specifications in mind from the start rather than domestic consumption.
And what is symbolic for Japan is Vietnam Clean Seafood's development of sashimi and sushi fillets. The very idea of steering tilapia to raw-consumption uses shows that it has the Japanese market firmly in view as a concrete exit.
Takeaways for Japanese food buyers and importers
The material traits of white and mild flesh have a wide range of application in conveyor-belt sushi, commercial prepared foods and food OEM. Beyond raw-consumption use as a topping, it is worth considering as a substitute candidate for fried dishes, nanban-zuke, surimi and paste products made from white fish, and frozen-fillet supply to food-service. It is close in position to pangasius, already used in white-fish fry and fish burgers, but tilapia's flesh is somewhat firmer, with room to differentiate on fillet yield and post-cooking texture.
However, for Japanese consumers tilapia has thin name recognition and is likely to be served without its name as "the white fish of conveyor-belt sushi." The buyer side wants to demand raw-material origin labeling and traceability from the region early and to secure the chain information ICAFIS puts in order at the point of import. If aiming for raw-consumption use, hygiene standards for raw consumption and a guaranteed freezing history are preconditions.
Ripple effects on the industry
If Vietnam gains a second pillar after pangasius as a source of white-fish fillets, Japan's white-fish sourcing options get one level thicker. Read together with pangasius's move to shift its pivot to processed goods, Vietnamese fisheries is moving from the stage of "selling cheap whole fish" to the stage of "designing uses and putting out raw material." Tilapia is a newcomer riding that flow, and on the Japanese side too, companies that grab the use and specifications first, rather than merely buying raw material, gain the advantage.
There is also a change in the supply structure that cannot be overlooked. The current state where the US absorbs about 70% of tilapia exports is also a single-market dependence risk for the region. If US trade policy reverses even once, raw material that loses its outlet suddenly piles up in surplus. At that point, how much it has grown second and third exits such as Japan and Brazil divides the region's life or death. From a Japanese buyer's view, this phase in which the region hurries to diversify its sales channels is also a timing where room arises to secure long-term slots on favorable terms.
Practical information
The first move in considering sourcing is aligning uses with a company that has processing capacity. Having a 200-tonne-a-day processing base means that lot supply of fillets and whole fish can be arranged at a realistic scale. First, verify flesh quality, yield and post-thaw drip against your own standards with a small sample of fillets, and separate out raw-consumption use from heated use. For price, use the local break-even band of 22,000 to 26,000 dong/kg as a guide and estimate the import cost by adding exchange and logistics costs. Given that the region's fry self-sufficiency is still 60%, it is safe to assess supply stability over several seasons.
Summary
Can Tho's tilapia region-building is an export strategy that, with the surge in US demand as a tailwind, built Japan in as a concrete exit of sashimi and sushi. The feasibility of the vision from 604 hectares to 96,500 hectares is still unknown, but processing capacity, foreign-capital variety research, and administrative backing are starting to come together. For the Japanese sourcing side, it is the possibility of one more white-fish domestic-substitute raw material, and whether it can grab the use and specifications first is the decisive point.
Sources
- Nong nghiep Moi truong, "Can Tho, toward tilapia as a strategic export fish species"
- SeafoodSource, "Vietnam's tilapia exports surge more than 350% through August"
- The day Vietnamese pangasius stops mass production: how processed goods open Japan's sourcing strategy
- The era of Japan merely buying is ending; Japan and Vietnam enter a stage of circulating raw material to each other in seafood
- Vietnamese scallops become Japan's largest buyer: how a processing hub opens a new sourcing route
