India is the world's fourth-largest consumer of shrimps. Early this year, Uni-President began tapping such market to sell aquafeed through its affiliate in Vietnam. The company will set up a plant in India if annual sales of aquafeed in Vietnam total 10,000 tonnes, a goal expected to be met in 2011.

 

At the recent annual shareholders meeting, Uni-President announced plans to set up more production bases in the next two years, with India as the first stop to expand presence overseas.

 

Uni-President has three aquafeed plants in Vietnam, two of which have fully booked production lines.

 

Despite volatility in prices for aquafeed, the Vietnam plant is expected to be more profitable this year due to large stockpiles of cheap materials, fetching US$7.76 million in 2009 while other sites in the Philippines and Thailand begin to turn profits last year.