Luong Thanh Van

Founder - Chairman of the Board of Viet Uc Seafood Joint Stock Company

"Vietnam is blessed by nature with a favourable climate and fertile soil, and especially a 3,000km long coastline providing abundant resources. I aspire to play a part in developing a direction for high-quality commercial shrimp farming, with stable production that both attains economic values while sustainably growing the shrimp industry."

Following a long and stable career in Australia, Luong Thanh Van decided to return to his homeland to develop the shrimp industry. It might be hard to believe that Van had no prior knowledge or experience in this field before establishing Viet Uc Seafood JSC. However, within just 5-6 years of focusing on growth, his company has become the market leader in Vietnam.

Before returning, Luong Thanh Van had been a successful entrepreneur in the garment and photo printing industry, owning up to 6,000 quick photo printing stores across various states in Australia. Later, with the emergence of digital photography, traditional photo printing stores began losing customers. Nevertheless, Luong Thanh Van discovered a promising new business field in Vietnam: the shrimp industry.

During a trip to Vietnam, Van easily realised the potential of the country’s shrimp industry. “Vietnam is blessed by nature with a favourable climate and fertile soil, and especially a 3,000km long coastline providing abundant resources. When I first came to the country, shrimp farming was still in its early stages and was scattered, lacking the application of scientific techniques. Particularly, farmers were using antibiotics and heavily relying on imported shrimp broodstock. I aspire to play a part in developing a direction for high-quality commercial shrimp farming, with stable production that both attains economic values while sustainably growing the shrimp industry", he recalls..

With an action mindset, Van has actively sought knowledge while managing his business. He reached out to leading professors and experts in Australia to thoroughly understand the shrimp industry. Van says: "The smooth business operation is thanks to the professional and meticulous technology transfer process from Australia. They not only transferred science-technology, and digital technology in a methodical and detailed manner but also supported me in designing plans for growth. They also spent time guiding my employees in Vietnam on operations”.

To proactively secure the shrimp broodstock instead of relying on imports, Viet Uc Seafood JSC collaborated with various major strategic partners such as the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia, Benchmark Holding JSC in the UK, Can Tho University, Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Research Institute for Aquaculture. With its direction in research and applying modern technology, Viet Uc Seafood Corporation has successfully developed a whiteleg shrimp broodstock with high resilience and adaptability to the soil and climate conditions of each locality, which helps increase efficiency and profits in the shrimp farming process. “In the past, there were only three countries in the world that produced shrimp broodstock: the US, Singapore and Thailand; now Vietnam has its own businesses capable of producing shrimp broodstock. This is of great significance to domestic shrimp farmers, as they no longer need to worry about the source of broodstock. It also means that the Vietnamese shrimp industry, valued at 4-5 billion dollars, is no longer dependent on foreign shrimpseed," he proudly says.

Despite achieving major successes, Van remains humble, attributing his achievements to the companionship and support of Australian partners. He says: “Australian experts work professionally and thoughtfully. And vice versa, we Vietnamese also have to maintain our credibility to receive long-term support.”