Vietnam Cold-Chain and Agritech Opportunities for Foreign Investors

Vietnam set a record in 2024 with agriculture, forestry, and fisheries exports reaching US$62.4–62.5 billion, underscoring both the scale of production and the strong pull from high-value markets in the EU, United States, Japan, and China. This momentum is feeding directly into the domestic food processing industry, which expanded 7.4 percent year on year to about US$79.3 billion, highlighting growing demand for cold storage and traceable supply chains. At the same time, local consumption is accelerating. Vietnam’s food service market, valued at US$21.92 billion in 2024, is projected to more than double to US$54.27 billion by 2033, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.7 percent. Food delivery alone reached about US$1.4 billion in 2023, serving as a clear signal of rising consumer spending on fresh and ready-to-eat food products.

Quantifying losses and climate exposure

Post-harvest losses continue to be a significant challenge in Vietnam’s agrifood sector. For fruits and vegetables, as much as one quarter of output is typically lost, and this can rise to the mid-thirties to mid-forties percent where handling and temperature control are inadequate. In seafood, delays in cooling and processing can reduce product value by approximately one-fifth to the mid-teens. Climate pressures add another layer of risk: in the Mekong Delta, drought and salinity intrusion have damaged roughly 120,000 hectares of farmland and wiped out more than 160,000 hectares of rice, directly affecting hundreds of thousands of people.

Capacity today and where Vietnam stands in ASEAN

Vietnam’s commercial cold storage capacity passed 1 million pallet positions by the end of 2023, spread across about one hundred operators, and is projected to reach 1.7 million pallets by 2028 as new facilities come online. For comparison, Thailand’s combined public and private cold storage capacity stands at roughly 940,000 metric tons, often cited as a regional benchmark for coverage and operating standards. By contrast, Indonesia and Myanmar remain well behind in installed capacity, highlighting the uneven state of cold-chain readiness across ASEAN.

Still, capacity alone does not tell the full story. In Thailand, two-fifths to one-half of agricultural exports typically move through cold-chain systems, while in Vietnam, coverage is closer to one-fifth to one-quarter for key perishables such as seafood and high-value fruit.

That gap underscores the growth potential in Vietnam as infrastructure expands and compliance standards tighten.

Energy costs and operating exposure

Electricity is one of the largest operating costs in cold storage, and recent price changes in Vietnam have made it more important for investors to factor it in. In May 2025, the government raised the average retail electricity price to about 2,204 Vietnamese dong per kilowatt-hour, a 4.8 percent increase, bringing the cumulative rise since 2023 to more than 17 percent. For industrial users, this equates to roughly US$0.078–0.10 per kilowatt-hour, slightly below Thailand, where operators report paying around US$0.12.

In Vietnam, wholesale tariffs and industrial zone rates are tiered by voltage and time of use — a key consideration for facilities scheduling night-time pre-cooling or load shifting. Policymakers continue to debate further adjustments as the national utility works through accumulated losses.

To manage exposure, operators are increasingly turning to rooftop solar and efficiency upgrades, with the government moving to expand grid participation for distributed solar.

The compliance baseline for market access

Vietnam’s major trade agreements — the EU–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) — all reinforce the sanitary and phytosanitary standards that exporters must observe. For the EU market, compliance typically centers on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), ISO standards, and Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (VietGAP).

For China, the key requirements are the General Administration of Customs Decrees 248 and 249, which mandate overseas facility registration and require registration details on both inner and outer packaging, with product lists under regular revision.

By late 2022, Vietnam had already secured about 2,426 product codes for more than 2,000 enterprises, including 802 codes in seafood. This broad uptake demonstrates how quickly Vietnamese exporters are adapting to meet international market standards.

Incentives and the tax picture that now matters

Vietnam has long attracted foreign investors with tax breaks in industrial parks, traditionally offering a two-year corporate income tax holiday followed by a four-year, 50 percent reduction. Under the amended corporate income tax framework, however, location-based incentives for new projects in industrial parks will end in October 2025. Instead, incentives are now tied more directly to priority sectors and designated zones.

These can include a reduced corporate income tax rate of 10 percent for up to 15 years, alongside four years of full exemption and nine additional years at half-rate, plus duty relief on qualifying imports. Specific parks, such as Nam Dinh Vu, combine tax reductions, duty exemptions, and favorable land leases that can significantly improve project economics when aligned with sector eligibility.

For comparison, regional peers continue to compete aggressively: Malaysia’s BioNexus program grants up to ten years of full income tax exemption for biotechnology firms, followed by concessionary rates and investment allowances, while Thailand’s Board of Investment offers tax holidays with add-ons based on merit criteria and targeted activities.

The tech layer that unlocks premium buyers

Vietnam is entering a phase where physical infrastructure alone will not secure export market share. Buyers in the European Union, the United States, China, and Japan want transparent data to prove origin, safety, and compliance.

Cold storage and reefer fleets only create value if they are matched with digital systems that trace, certify, and verify every stage of the supply chain.

Electronic traceability in fisheries

The Department of Fisheries has directed every coastal province to deploy electronic catch and landing traceability systems, with training provided to port officials and processors. The target is that all fishing ports operate electronic traceability by the start of 2025.

Electronic phytosanitary and health certificates

Vietnam is now part of the International Plant Protection Convention system that recognizes electronic phytosanitary certificates. This allows fruit and vegetable shipments to clear customs faster and with lower risk of document mismatch. In parallel, the country began a pilot in March 2025 to accept electronically signed health certificates, which will eventually replace paper-based approvals once the rollout is complete.

Registration requirements for China

For shipments to China, compliance with the General Administration of Customs of China Decrees 248 and 249 is mandatory. Vietnamese exporters must register overseas facilities and display registration details on both inner and outer packaging. By December 2022, more than 2,000 Vietnamese enterprises had registered approximately 2,426 product codes under these rules, including over 800 for seafood.

Domestic agritech solutions

Local technology providers are building solutions to meet traceability requirements. Vietnam Blockchain Corporation has introduced Agridential, a platform that links farm-level records to product identities across the value chain. Exporters using such systems can prove compliance with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points and International Organization for Standardization standards and Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices by presenting time-stamped, verifiable records to inspection teams.

Responding to international inspections

Vietnam remains under monitoring for illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. The European Union has postponed a major inspection to late 2025 but has increased demands for proof of vessel monitoring, activity recording, and port landing traceability. Exporters that have already integrated electronic systems will be able to show compliance faster and reduce the likelihood of shipment holds or outright rejections.

Data that proves the investment case

Vietnam’s food processing industry was worth about US$79.3 billion in 2024 and continues to demand inputs with verifiable compliance. Electronic traceability in seafood has already demonstrated measurable improvements in export readiness and acceptance rates. Together with electronic phytosanitary and health certificates, these systems reduce processing time and cut the number of rejections tied to documentation. This directly improves margins for exporters and creates a stronger case for technology investment.

Early movers and what they signal

In early 2025, LOTTE Global Logistics broke ground on a new cold-chain facility in Dong Nai, committing about US$34 million to serve both domestic distribution and export flows. Global players are also expanding their footprint: DHL now offers temperature-controlled solutions in Vietnam with real-time monitoring for pharmaceuticals and perishables.

Local champions dominate market share, with ABA Cooltrans and Lineage Logistics together holding nearly half of cold storage capacity and three-quarters of cold transportation capacity. Lineage is further scaling through a joint venture in Vietnam, underscoring foreign interest in the sector.

On the export side, leading seafood processors such as Vietocean and Khoi Viet operate under multiple international certifications — including HACCP, ISO 22000, and BRC — showing that most large Vietnamese exporters already meet demanding global standards.

Compact decision tool for entry strategy

Entry into Vietnam’s cold-chain sector can take very different shapes depending on how much capital an investor is willing to commit and how much control is needed over operations. Some focus on building from the ground up — cold storage hubs, port-adjacent facilities, and refrigerated fleets designed with energy efficiency and location resilience in mind. Others emphasize the digital layer, using farm management systems, sensor networks, and chain-of-custody platforms that align with HACCP, VietGAP, and China’s GACC labeling and registration rules, helping exporters move shipments through inspections more quickly.

Many choose to expand through partnerships with cooperatives, processors, or logistics operators, which can resolve aggregation challenges and scale training.

Whatever the approach, returns are most credible when tied to compliance premiums, measurable reductions in post-harvest loss, and energy savings rather than throughput alone. Anchoring payback to these value drivers reduces the risk of investing in facilities that end up underutilized.

What winning looks like by 2030

If Vietnam meets its target of 1.7 million pallet positions and raises cold-chain coverage in high-value categories to levels closer to Thailand, the sector could sustain high single-digit to low double-digit growth through 2030, driven by expanding food processing output and rising demand in the domestic food service market. Under a baseline outlook, coverage of agricultural exports climbs to around 30 percent by 2030. With accelerated adoption of electronic certification, coverage could approach 45 percent, while in a lagging scenario, it remains below 25 percent if climate pressures and higher energy costs slow progress.

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