HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamesetraditional fish sauce makers need to step up marketing to promote theirproducts both at home and abroad, experts said.

Vietnam has more than 3,000km of coastline andan abundant source of seafood.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Food andFoodstuff Association, the country consumes 250 million litres of fish sauce ayear. Of this, traditional fish sauce accounts for 60 million litres andindustrial fish sauce for the rest.

A survey by the HCM City-based Business Studyand Assistance Centre (BSA) pointed out that 90 percent of fish sauce isdistributed via traditional channels, with traditional markets accounting fornearly half.

Only one or two businesses have programmes topromote their products, and the distribution channels of traditional fish saucemakers are not stable, according to the BSA.

Didier Corlou, a famous French chef who cookedmeals for many world celebrities who visited Vietnam, said there is a hugeopportunity to promote consumption of traditional fish sauce in the countrygiven its large population.

But for that he said it is necessary to educatepeople, especially the younger generations, how to identify traditional fishsauce from industrial ones.

To enable export of traditional fish sauce, hesaid businesses should focus on quality and not use additives, and just usefish and salt to make them.

Importers, especially in Europe, only care aboutthe quality of the fish sauce, not quantity, he said.

Businesses could promote their products to theworld through celebrities or famous chefs, even through tourism and diplomaticprogrammes, he said.

They need to tell stories to consumers about howtraditional fish sauce is made and the process of brewing anchovies in vats sothat they understand the value of fish sauce, he said.

Every locality needs a different story becauseevery place has its own unique characteristics, and businesses should integratethese stories into their marketing strategies, he added.

To promote the marketing and distribution oftraditional fish sauces, the High Quality Vietnamese Product BusinessAssociation has implemented a programme to enable traditional fish sauceassociations and businesses to bring their products to modern trade channelsand traditional markets in large cities such as Hanoi and HCM City.

Vu Kim Hanh, the association’s chairwoman, saidthe programme would develop an app to support sales and marketing and improvethe brand identities of traditional fish sauce.

"The market is becoming increasinglycompetitive, requiring traditional fish sauce makers and traders to improvetheir marketing and distribution capabilities in the battle for marketshare."-VNS/VNA