8. Vietnam in the region

In one paragraph. The only published regional comparison, the GFI APAC and Hawkwood Biotech "Where to Build" study (October 2025), scores Vietnam 100 on labour cost, 97 on utilities and 93 on construction, and 0 on regulatory readiness. Indonesia is as cheap, and Thailand is nearly as cheap with far better rules and sugar supply. The study's own cost models show that labour and power are a small share of fermentation cost, so cheap inputs alone will not bring plants. Singapore has approved 18 novel foods but has stepped back from producing alternative protein at home. Thailand and Korea have approval routes but, as of September 2026, no approvals of cultivated meat. China is building yeast-protein and mycoprotein plants of 11,000 to 20,000 tonnes a year and sets the price any Vietnamese microbial protein must beat. Vietnam's real regional role today is as a feedstock supplier: it shipped 2.15 million tonnes of cassava starch in 2023, mostly to China, while China imported only USD 0.16 million of glucose syrup from Vietnam in 2024. Keeping the starch-to-sugar step at home and publishing a novel-food procedure are the two moves the region points to.

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#8.1 How the region scores Vietnam

The GFI APAC and Hawkwood Biotech study scored nine Asia-Pacific countries from 0 to 100 on seven drivers of biomanufacturing location (100 = best in the group) ^1,2 VN-directCao.

Source: ¹ VN-directCao.

Cheap but unready: how a regional study scores Vietnam

GFI APAC and Hawkwood "Where to Build" (2025), scores 0 to 100, 100 = best of nine countries

Three readings matter more than the ranks.

1. Vietnam is not unique on cost. Indonesia scores the same or better on labour, utilities and construction. Thailand scores 81 to 99 on cost and much higher on sugar (100), business environment (74) and rules (50). No country in the study combines low cost with regulatory readiness; Thailand comes closest ¹ VN-directCao.
2. Cost advantage acts on a small share of cost. In the study's representative plant models, labour is 7% (biomass, 80,000 t a year) and 17% (precision fermentation, 10,000 t a year) of production cost, and utilities 4 to 5%. Capital depreciation is 37 to 56%. The models were run for a US Midwest plant on corn glucose, not an Asian site ¹ generalCao. The same report also cites other studies in which feedstock is 30 to 65% of cost; either way, labour and power are minor (Economics).
3. The sugar index understates Vietnam. It counts only cane sugar and ignores cassava starch, Vietnam's main fermentable carbohydrate (Asset map). But that starch is already sold abroad (section 8.5).

The study's three recommendations for Vietnam are all about rules and delivery: fund Resolution 36 on biotechnology through programmes with named agency mandates; clarify incentive eligibility and timelines for biomanufacturing sites; and "publish regulatory procedures and statutory timelines for novel food approvals" ¹ VN-directCao. It also finds that a 50% capital grant, a 10% cut in feedstock cost or a loan guarantee does more for project value than a tax holiday ¹ generalCao.

Our critique. The index uses a World Bank indicator discontinued in 2021, gives no cost per kilogram for any country, and ranks countries against each other rather than against an investment threshold. It is a useful map of relative position, not a site-selection model ¹ VN-directTrung bình.

#8.2 Rules: who approves what

Singapore's list (dated 14 August 2026) has 6 cultivated meats (including Parima's duck, 10 April 2026, and Aleph Farms' beef, 22 July 2026), 6 fungal or bacterial biomass proteins (including Solar Foods' Solein, 2022), 3 precision-fermented ingredients, 2 microalgae and 1 synthetic compound ^3,15 VN-adjacentCao. In the United States the FDA completed its review of Wildtype's cultivated coho salmon on 28 May 2025, the first cultivated seafood cleared there ¹⁶ generalCao.

Novel-protein approvals in the region

Approvals by date, country and category

A route is not an approval. Korea opened applications in February 2024 and Thailand received its first cultivated dossier in December 2024; neither had approved a cultivated product by September 2026 ^8,6,9 VN-adjacentTrung bình. Staff, assessor capacity and published review times matter as much as the legal text.

Halal. In December 2025 Malaysia became the first Muslim-majority country to rule that cultivated meat can be halal, and Singapore's Islamic authority has set out a path. Aleph Farms plans to use capacity in Penang to supply the region ^14,17,18 VN-adjacentTrung bình. This matters for any Vietnamese fermentation or cultivated product aimed at Malaysian, Indonesian or Middle Eastern buyers.

#8.3 Strategies and state money

Two regional moves are directly relevant to Vietnam.

• Thailand is responding to the same ranking. Its new framework cites the GFI and Hawkwood study, and plans public pilot and contract-manufacturing capacity ²² VN-adjacentTrung bình. If Thailand delivers, a Vietnamese project competes with a neighbour that has cheaper sugar, a working approval route and public pilot plants.
• Singapore has stepped back from production. It now acts as regulator, research hub and financier rather than a manufacturing base ^19,20 VN-adjacentCao. That leaves room for lower-cost neighbours to host manufacturing for Singapore-approved products, if their plants meet Singapore's import rules (not yet checked; see Unknowns).

#8.4 Pilot and contract capacity a Vietnamese company can use

Vietnam has no equivalent open food-grade pilot plant (Industrial base, L. Labs and talent). A Vietnamese precision-fermentation or biomass startup today scales up abroad: in Singapore (food-licensed, dearer), Thailand (larger tanks, food status to confirm) or China (largest and cheapest, with more exposure of know-how).

China sets the price. Angel Yeast makes more than 11,000 t a year of yeast protein; Fushine is expanding mycoprotein from 1,200 to 20,000 t a year; a 20,000 t a year mycoprotein plant (More Meat with Guangzhou Shuangqiao, a starch-sugar maker) began commercial runs in June 2026. One foreign client said scale-up in China took half the time and half the cost of alternatives ¹¹ generalTrung bình. Chinese gas-fermentation protein made from steel-mill off-gas is in commercial feed trials ³³ generalTrung bình. Any Vietnamese microbial protein, for food or feed, will be priced against these plants.

#8.5 Trade: Vietnam sells starch, not fermentation sugar

Food-protein ingredient imports are small. Vietnam reported 2023 imports of USD 22.2 million under HS 3504 (protein substances, including soy protein isolate; China 45%) and USD 34.0 million under HS 2106.10 (protein concentrates and textured protein; United States 46%, China 27%), about USD 56 million in all ^34,35 VN-directTrung bình. China's mirror data show larger tonnages (25,267 t under HS 3504 in 2024) at USD 1.0 to 1.6 per kg, a price that suggests much of this is feed-grade rather than isolate ^36,37,38,39 VN-directTrung bình. The retail audit found the same pattern at shelf level: textured soy, soy isolate and gluten mostly from China (Alt protein today).

Carbohydrate exports are large. Vietnam exported 2.15 Mt of cassava starch worth USD 1.06 billion in 2023, 93.5% of it to China ⁴⁰ VN-directCao. In 2024 Vietnam supplied 39% of China's cassava starch imports (1.56 Mt, USD 757 million), second to Thailand. China also bought USD 104 million of dried cassava and USD 114 million of modified starch from Vietnam, but only USD 0.16 million of glucose syrup ^41,42,43,44 VN-directCao.

Vietnam sells starch, not fermentation sugar

USD million; Vietnam-reported exports (2023) and China-reported imports from Vietnam (2024)

Reading. For exported carbohydrate, the conversion of starch to glucose, the feedstock of every fermentation plant, happens in China. Glucose is made in Vietnam, but for captive or domestic use: Vedan alone built about 140,000 t a year of glucose syrup capacity ⁴⁵ VN-directTrung bình. Some of that glucose may already feed Chinese yeast-protein or mycoprotein plants: the 20,000 t mycoprotein joint venture's partner is a starch-sugar maker. We could not confirm whether it uses Vietnamese starch ¹¹ generalThấp. Moving part of that step to Vietnam, for Vietnamese or foreign fermenters, is the most direct way for Vietnam to "plug in" to the regional build-out (Plays, play T4).

#8.6 Regional companies with a Vietnam foothold

These firms already own fermentation, feed or seafood assets in Vietnam. They are the most likely hosts for a first tolling or pilot arrangement (Plays, play T5).

#8.7 How neighbours built their rules

Sources: ^3,7,6,9,51,5 VN-adjacentTrung bình.

Transferable lessons (our assessment). VN-adjacentTrung bình

1. A new law is not needed. Korea added a new-ingredient assessment step to an existing instrument in about nine months. Vietnam's equivalent is a delegation clause in the Food Safety Law now in drafting and a procedure in its implementing decree (Rules, Policy options).
2. Borrow assessors. Thailand designated existing bodies as assessment units instead of building a new agency. Vietnamese candidates include the National Institute for Food Control.
3. Rely on others' work. Singapore's published specifications let later regulators rely on its assessments. Vietnam already uses a five-country reliance lane for GM food under Decree 43/2026 (Rules); the same logic can apply to novel foods.
4. Publish the timeline. The study's single most specific ask of Vietnam is a published procedure with statutory timelines. Korea's fee and review period give applicants something to plan around, even before the first approval.

#8.8 What this means

• Investors: Vietnam is a cost story without a food approval route. Until one exists, a Vietnamese novel-protein plant is justified only for feed, or for export under another country's approval. Price any microbial protein against Chinese plants of 11,000 to 20,000 t a year.
• Policy makers: the region's clearest message is to publish a novel-food procedure with a statutory timeline and pair it with capital grants rather than tax holidays. Thailand is already acting on the same study.
• Startups: plan scale-up in Singapore, Thailand or China and use a Singapore approval as the regional credential. Budget 9 to 12 months or more after a complete dossier ⁵² VN-adjacentThấp.
• Manufacturers: food-grade protein ingredient imports are small (about USD 56 million), and mostly Chinese. The bigger lever is the starch Vietnam already ships to China each year.
• Research bodies: Chinese cassava-to-protein and gas-to-protein feed work, and Thai pilot capacity, are the fastest partnerships for catching up.
• International bodies: help draft the procedure (through SFA's regulator agreements or FAO's food-safety work) and consider a Thailand-Vietnam pilot-plant access arrangement.

Related: N. Regional (full country tables, approval list, trade flows, study details), Rules, International.