Seafood exhibition «VIETFISH 2026»

   Wholesale buyers, chefs and processors come to Ho Chi Minh City for one thing: to see, taste and compare hundreds of Vietnamese seafood samples in a single walk-through, and to leave with a deal rather than a folder of catalogues. For three days the country's largest seafood trade show turns the exhibition centre into a district of negotiating tables.

   VIETFISH stands for Vietnam Fisheries International Exhibition, the annual show run by VASEP, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (Hiệp hội Chế biến và Xuất khẩu Thủy sản Việt Nam). This edition carries its theme straight on the poster: «Innovation — Sustainability». By the organisers' own figures, a typical edition brings together around 200 exhibiting companies, some 10,000 product items and up to 2,000 transactions, with roughly 12,000 visitors passing through the halls. The record still belongs to 2019: 16,000 seafood professionals from 14 countries.

   The floor is split into four product groups, which makes planning a route easy:

• — shrimp (tôm) — Vietnam's flagship aquaculture export;
• — pangasius (cá tra) — the Mekong Delta river fish Vietnam ships worldwide;
• — other seafood — the rest of the marine and freshwater range;
• — value-added products — ready meals, semi-prepared and deep-processed lines.

   Alongside the product stands you will find processing equipment, ingredients, packaging and services for the industry.

   This is a working platform, not a weekend fair. The people who come are retail and HoReCa buyers, importers and traders, processing technologists, equipment suppliers. The registration form asks for your position and company up front, and the organisers reserve the right to reject invalid entries — the audience is deliberately professional. The Buyer Matching service lets you line up suppliers against a specific brief and book meetings in advance, instead of walking the aisles blind.

   The host venue, Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center, is the largest exhibition complex in southern Vietnam. August is dense there: seven international shows run back to back, from food and beverage to sports and travel. VIETFISH takes two of them — Exhibition Hall A and Exhibition Hall B1.

   Market context explains the scale. In 2025 Vietnam's fisheries sector was working towards USD 11 billion in export revenue and shipped USD 4.07 billion in the first five months alone, up 14% year on year. Global trade in fish and seafood that same year was forecast by FAO and UNCTAD to pass USD 165 billion.

   There are two ways in. In advance: fill in the form on the show website and receive a QR code by email, then collect your badge at the priority counter. On site: hand over a business card or complete a form at the registration desk. Group visits are arranged separately with the organisers.

   Worth knowing before you go: formal dress is required — shorts and slippers may result in admission being denied; no one under 13 is allowed in, on build-up, show and dismantling days alike; pets are not permitted. One scheduling detail: the halls close an hour earlier on the final day than on the first two.

   Booth and exhibiting enquiries go to Lam Xuan Dao (Lâm Xuân Đào), [email protected], +84 28 6281 0434; press and communications to Tran Tuong Khanh (Trần Tường Khanh), [email protected]. Book a booth.

   If your business touches fish at any point — from sourcing raw material to writing a restaurant menu — three days here will hand you more live contacts than a month of email.