Nguyen Thi Hue Trinh said that exports of fish fillets and internal organs have earned her company more than 6 million USD in the last 7 months.

In 2002, Trinh started her own business in “tra” fish by-products after spending several years providing a fillet processing service to export companies in the Mekong River Delta province of An Giang and its surrounding areas.

After five years of operating, her Thuan An production, trade and service company has become a reliable supplier of pangasius fillets and processed internal organs to foreign companies in 18 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa .

Its revenues have topped six million USD so far this year, up nearly 40 percent compared to the same period last year.

From a small processing facility with just 100 workers at the beginning, the company has now become a major employer that provides employment for more than 1,300 local people. It is expected to raise its workforce to 2,500 people by the end of 2009 when a new processing factory begins operations.

Trinh’s company is also building a freezer capable of housing 5,000 tonnes of raw materials and finished products in Chau Thanh district.

Her company has established a stable partnership with importers in Hong Kong and Japan for by-products from fish entrails. Products like fish oil are available for sale on the local market.

Savings from the first business in fish by-products helped Trinh to build another factory in Chau Phu district, which processes seafood for exports. In 2008, both factories processed an average of between 100 and 120 tonnes of raw materials a day.

Construction of a third factory is underway and once completed, the facility will help bring the company’s daily processing capacity to 200 tonnes.

With 10 hectares of breeding ponds, the company can produce 10-20 percent of its raw materials. The remaining 80-90 percent is purchased from local farming whose outlets for production are ensured by the company .

All three factories are designed to strictly follow European food safety standards and billions of VND have been invested in sewage treatment systems.

The main difficulty for the company at present, says Trinh, is the rising trend in the price of input materials due to the shortfalls in pangasius production. According to the businesswoman, farmers and exporters need to be closer linked to each other, to benefit, especially in the times of shifting world demands./.