On December 5th and 6th 2022, in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Vietnam Office, CanCham Vietnam Executive Director - Mr. Zach Herbers joined the Saskatchewan - Alberta Joint Agriculture Mission in a site visit, which went through 5 provinces across Vietnam's Southern Key Economic Region including Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria - Vung Tau & Long An to meet with CEOs and Directors from top manufacturers including Dan On Foods, CJ Food Vietnam & Pham Nguyen Confectionery.
CJ Foods Milling Vietnam LLC - with 100% investment from foreign owned capital from CJ CheilJedang Corporation at $36,000,000. CJ Foods Vietnam's mainly operates in production, distribution, sales & exports of wheat flour and premix flour and other production in and from Vietnam. CJ Foods Vietnam's factory is located in My Xuan A Industrial Zone, My Xuan Commune, Tan Thanh District, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province with the total area of 40,000 m2 (built in 2014) and the its capacity can reach up to 500 tons/ day and 160,000 tons/ year. In addition, their wheat grinding mills can produce up to 10,000 tons of flour mix per year. After the signing of the joint venture, the three enterprises are enhancing partnership by extending the collaboration to diversify to other food products sectors in Vietnam.
Dan On Foods Company Limited - Dan On Foods Corporation has been established in Vietnam in 1999. It is a business unit of Dan-D Foods group and the head office is located in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Dan On Foods Corporation commits to carry out the production and sales of "Fine Foods of the Earth" in a cost effective, planned and systematic manner to reach the level of quality the customers desire, while meeting international government regulations. In order to achieve these objectives, the company has established and implemented a Quality Management System as set out by HACCP, BRC, KOSHER, SA80000 certification systems.
Pham Nguyen Confectionery Company - is a leading manufacturer and distributor of soft cakes, biscuits, chocolates, crackers and its trade marketed "Phanner Pie", a marshmallow filled bun with a chocolate coating. As a leader in the Vietnamese snack food industry, Pham Nguyen Confectionery takes its place within the top of the Southeast Asia's leading snack food manufacturers.
With representatives of the Saskatchewan & Alberta Governments and mixed grain, wheat & plant protein exporters including:
STEP, Yi Zeng - Senior Director
Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, Rachel Luo - Senior Trade Officer
TA Foods, Mark Popowich - Vice President
TA Foods, Evan Johnson - Sales Manager
DG Global Inc., Doron Yahav - Grain Trader
Infraready Products, Mark Pickard - President
Providence Grain Solutions, Shane Dziad - Wheat Merchant
Purely Canada Foods Corp, Tia Fahlman - Senior Grain Trader
Galaxy Ag Ventures, Se Hong Park - Owner
Galaxy Ag Ventures, Kwanghyun Sung (James) - Director of Sales
Galaxy Ag Ventures, Eunsoon Kyung (Victor) - Director of International Business
The deputation visited several food processing sites including Canadian owned/operated Dan On Foods, CJ Food Vietnam & Pham Nguyen Confectionary Company to discuss trends in the market and explore opportunities to increase Canadian trade & involvement in the industry.
Photos from the site visit of the Saskatchewan - Alberta Joint Agriculture Mission delegation
As part of the Joint Agriculture Mission, a B2B Matching format meeting session was also set up at Sheraton Hotel for the delegation to meet with local importers, distributors and processors in Saigon. Businesses representatives from big companies like CJ Foods, Dan On Foods, Pham Nguyen Confectionery etc. came to meet with the delegation. It's clear from the success of this event that the demand for more Canadian agricultural products in the Vietnam market is strong and on the rise.
Whether it is providing the technologies and equipment necessary to boost capacity and efficiency or setting up new facilities, Canadian companies should take Vietnam seriously as the country has a growing domestic market, as well as an emerging logistics hub for the ASEAN region (and Asia in general)
This joint mission will be the first step for Alberta and Saskatchewan to engage in more opportunities outside of trade for investment in food and agricultural processing.
We are definitely looking forward to more to come in 2023 as it marks Canada - Vietnam 50 years of diplomatic relation.
By CanCham Vietnam