Brief for food and feed manufacturers

The short version. Vietnam's non-animal protein market is yours already: soy milk, tofu and industrial đồ chay made on the same lines as meat. But the protein in those products is imported, and so is the protein in your feed. Fishmeal at its highest price since at least 2020 and a feed-output target of 30 to 32 Mt by 2030 make protein supply a strategic question. The alternatives most likely to reach you within two years are domestic textured protein and functional microbial feed ingredients, and both need you as a trial partner.

#Food and beverage

1. Your shelf is low in protein and high in imported inputs. Across the 43 audited foods with a label value, median protein was 4.7 g per 100 g. Every locally made product with 10 g or more per 100 g ran on imported textured soy, soy protein or gluten, mostly Chinese. About 77% of products relied on an imported protein ingredient, and 11% partly (Alt protein today, D. Retail formulation audit).
2. Chay is often cheaper than meat per pack, not per gram of protein. Filled wrappers hold 3 to 5 g of protein per 100 g. Chicken and eggs set the retail protein floor at about 34,000 to 46,000 VND per 100 g of protein (Economics).
3. Domestic textured protein is the nearest new supply (T1). It costs a small fraction of retail meat protein to make, but competes with Chinese imports at about USD 1.6 per kg. Freshness, customisation for local dishes and supply security are the arguments for a local supplier (Plays).
4. High-protein plant drinks use imported pea protein (T10). Mung bean and rice proteins could replace it, with care on protein-quality claims: human digestibility of mung bean is about 20% below the pig values often quoted (Technology fit).
5. Rules to watch. The Food Safety Law revision (October to November 2026) and any rules on allergens and names for plant-based products (Rules, Policy options).

#Feed

1. Fishmeal reached USD 2,500 a tonne in August 2026, about 6 times the price of soybean meal. At 15% inclusion, fishmeal adds about USD 375 per tonne of shrimp feed at that price (Economics).
2. Novel proteins replace part of fishmeal, not all of it. Most trials support about 25 to 60% replacement per ingredient without growth loss (about 30% for the best-studied microbial protein in shrimp); early life stages need their own trials (Technology fit, Feed and aquafeed market).
3. Function is worth more than protein. Survival after disease challenge, palatability and winter survival are where microbial ingredients earn a premium at 1 to 5% inclusion (T2) (Plays).
4. Check the legal route before using a new material. Aquafeed's permitted list has no raw-material section, and unlisted use now draws fines (Rules).
5. Chinese microbial protein is already on the market, as a by-product of amino-acid fermentation. Compare any new supplier against it, not only against fishmeal (Alt protein today).

#What you could do in the next 12 months

• Give a textured-protein startup a specification and a trial order (T1).
• Host a species-specific trial of a functional microbial ingredient with a shrimp or fish trial laboratory (T2).
• Write a pea-protein replacement specification for plant drinks (T10).
• Share by-product data (okara, spent grain, broken rice, processing residues) for the national by-product atlas.
• If you own fermentation tanks, consider tolling for third parties; it is the single biggest missing piece in the ecosystem (T5).

#Export angles

A Singapore approval is the regional credential for novel foods; Malaysia has ruled that cultivated meat can be halal; halal acceptance of Vietnamese fermentation-derived ingredients is an open question (Region, Unknowns).

Read next: Industrial base · Alt protein today · Economics · Plays · D. Retail formulation audit · Feed and aquafeed market

#Looking to 2050 (edition 1.1)

• On trend, soybean-meal need rises from 7.2 Mt (2025) to about 10.4 Mt (2050). The two largest levers, soybean-meal inclusion and feed conversion, are in your hands, and nobody publishes them. Sharing anonymised data would make a national protein balance possible (Protein balance 2050).
• Plan for recurring shocks. In the stressed 2050 worlds, fishmeal shortages, joint crop failures in exporting countries and shipping scares recur; the 2026 Middle East conflict helped raise Vietnamese feed prices 10 to 14% between January and April 2026. Formulation flexibility, multi-origin sourcing and working stocks are the proven hedges (Scenarios 2050, Robust moves).
• Qualify one non-marine omega-3 oil for shrimp and marine-fish feeds; alternatives could supply 15 to 50% of aquafeed omega-3 by 2050.
• Watch trash-fish replacement and offshore cages: they turn marine-fish growth into formulated, protein- and fishmeal-dense feed demand.