International Development & Investment Corporation: Create a new look for fisheries products

Professional and sustainable

In 2003, IDI was established with key officials of Sao Mai Construction and Investment Company, An Giang, as making up most of the leadership and operators.

In 2005, IDI started the project of Vam Cong Industrial Group with the scale of near 23 ha in Lap Vo, Dong Thap. In 2006, it started the construction of the past stage of resettlement areas and an industrial complex. In 2007, it started the construction of the first frozen fisheries processing factory and ancillary items. In 2008, it finished the construction and installation of machines and equipment of the first frozen fisheries factory with the designed capacity of 300 tons/day and the freezing store capacity of 4,600 tons. In 2009, it continued to invest in machines and equipment at the third stage of the first frozen fisheries processing factory, striving to achieve the designed capacity of 600 tons/day. In 2010, the first frozen fisheries processing factory was operated with a designed capacity of 600 tons/day. In 2011, it started the project of fish oil factory with a designed capacity of 100 tons of raw fish oil a day, with the total investment of 300 billion VND, and the total area of 23,450 m2; at the same time, it finished near 6 ha of the Tra fish area under the GlobalGAP in An Thach Trung, Cho Moi, An Giang. In 2012, the investment of the fish oil factory was finished with the first-stage capacity of 100 tons of materials a day. In 2013, the factory came into operation.

Sao Mai fish oil factory

With good preparations, IDI is ranked among the top five frozen Tra fish export businesses. In May 2011, IDI shares were listed on stock exchange in Ho Chi Minh City with the IDI stock code.

While many fisheries businesses were prominent in a short time and sank into oblivion then, IDI has a roadmap and is harvesting successes. Now IDI is considered as one of the largest Tra fish export companies in Vietnam and a prestigious Tra fish supplier in the world. IDI participated in the field of processing fish powder, fish oil, refined Tra fish oil as a promising direction.

Diversification with “intelligent, bright” product

According to the Vietnam Tra Fish Association, Tra fish accounts for 26% of the total fisheries exports, second after shrimp. Although Tra fish exports have appeared in 149 markets in the world, the product is monotonous with 99% of being fish fillet.

Research shows that processing removes only one-third of the input material; the rest such as the head, bone, skin, fat, stomach, shredded meat and fish blood (the component containing a lot of usable values for the production of biological fuel, cooking oil, gelatin, fertilisers, functional food, cosmetics…) is often discarded, thus the effort of farmers is wasted, environmental pollution is increasing while profits are reducing.

IDI Corp and Desmet Ballestra (Belgium) have started the construction of a fish oil refining plant, the first functional food of Vietnam with a total investment of 15 million USD as a right direction. There are two kinds of products: thin oil and thick oil. The thin oil is mainly distributed to the domestic market in the form of high-grade cooking oil, nutrition oil for children and a small amount for domestic companies and foreign ones. The thick oil will be processed into soft shortening mainly for export with a high value serving the chocolate and cake production industry…

In the refined technology of the plant, every kg of fish fat can be processed, into 0.97 kg of finished products with 0.47 liter of high-grade cooking oil, 0.05 liter of nutrition oil and 0.5 liter of soft shortening.

The demand for the world’s marine fish oil is very huge. Tra fish oil has the same characteristics and components almost as marine fish oil, especially containing Omega 3-EPA and DHA for valuable medicine.

In early 2014, Sao Mai premium cooking oil, a type of products made from domestic materials and almost not available abroad, appeared in the market. According to the Vietnam Nutrition Institute, refined oil originating from animals is produced by  Sao Mai Group with the leading technology from the Europe. It has Omega-3EPA and DHA and many essential nutrients for the body.

This unique product consists of liquid oil (Olein) – high-grade liquid oil extracted from Tra fish fat with a high nutritional content, completely separating from typical smells of fish and kinds of cholesterol. This oil not only is used for cooking, but also provide Omega 3, 6, 9 for making eyes clear and significant vitamin E content for  the body. Besides, another line of product also attracting the attention of customers is half-finished solid oil (Stearin BTP). It is separated in the first stage of segment, a suitable material for animal feed.

The problem of product diversity is repeatedly mentioned remains modest in reality. The combination of research and cooperation with Europe helps the company to find safety in joining in the field of refining Tra fish oil. Moreover, this product is monopolizing in Vietnam, without competition. Also, thanks to modern equipment and large market shares, the product has a promising and bright future. Besides a attractive domestic market for products such as oil or animal feed, the export market is also wide open for Tra fish refined oil products.