The report in two minutes

Why Vietnam. Vietnam makes pork, poultry, eggs, fish and shrimp at scale on imported plant protein: about 99% of the soy protein in its feed is imported, for a feed-ingredient import bill of about USD 10 billion in 2025. The case for alternative protein here is food and feed security, industrial value and trade (Why Vietnam).

What it could make first. Domestic textured plant protein to replace Chinese imports, and functional microbial feed ingredients for shrimp and pangasius. A cassava-starch-to-sugar hub could keep a fermentation step in Vietnam, and shared pilot fermentation is what most other plays need. Precision fermentation fits only as contract-made, high-value ingredients; cultivated meat and seafood are research topics for this decade (Plays).

Who would buy it. Firms, not shoppers. Chay makers, meat processors, plant-milk makers, canteens and exporters of dumplings and other wrapped foods would buy new protein as an ingredient. Branded meat replacements have little pull. On a benchmark path, the routes create demand for about 19,000 t of protein a year by 2035, of which about 11,000 to 17,000 t made in Vietnam for the home market, mostly replacing imports; they would displace about 0.2% of meat protein (Demand sizing).

What stands in the way. No route to approve new foods, no open pilot fermentation capacity that we could find, no tariff shelter against Chinese and ASEAN protein ingredients, and little risk capital (Rules, Industrial base, Business buyers, Capital).

What to do first.

• Add a clause on new foods to the Food Safety Law while the draft is revised between the October 2026 first reading and the vote considered in May 2027.
• Clarify the GMO status of purified precision-fermented proteins, and fix the two feed lists.
• Share the expensive parts: a pilot fermentation line, public feed trials and a protein-quality laboratory.
• For firms: get delivered quotes for food-grade soy flour, win conditional orders from chay makers, and test feed ingredients head to head against the yeast mills already buy (Policy options, Demand to frontier).

By 2050. On trend, soybean-meal need rises from 7.2 Mt to about 10.4 Mt. Better feed efficiency cuts that about twice as much as alternative protein, and nine no-regret moves pay off in every scenario we tested (Protein balance 2050, Robust moves).

Read next: Summary (15 minutes) · Tóm tắt (Tiếng Việt) (Tiếng Việt) · Prologue (new to the field) · FAQ · the brief for your role, listed on Home.