Pre-processed Ca Mau crab sold in US for first time

The seafood, exported by Vua Cua Trading and Service JSC, was air-freighted along with pre-processed frozen snails. Consumers only have to defrost and heat them before eating.

Vua Cua’s pre-processed Ca Mau crab packaged before export to the U.S. Photo courtesy of Vua Cua

Doan Thi Anh Thu, CEO of Vua Cua, stated that it took her company two years to research and complete legal processes for this product to be officially exported to the U.S. This first batch - part of an order from the company’s American partner CTWS Group for 21,000 Ca Mau crabs, equivalent to 11 tonnes - will be divided and sold at 200 outlets, markets, and supermarkets.

According to Thu, Vua Cua’s market research in the U.S. shows that local consumers like Ca Mau crabs. In fact, Ca Mau live and steamed crabs have been sold in this market in the past, but from brands from other countries. This is the first time Ca Mau crabs produced by a Vietnamese brand are being sold in American supermarkets.

Currently, the retail price for crab roe and meat in the U.S. ranges between $25-27 per 550-gram box, depending on the state. The figure for snails range from $19-22 per box.

Ca Mau crab has long been a famous delicacy highly sought after in the Vietnamese and international markets. The product received a geographical indication certificate from the Intellectual Property Office last year.

According to Le Van Su, vice chairman of the Ca Mau Provincial People’s Committee, the province has the highest crab farming scale across Vietnam. The average annual value of Ca Mau’s crab production in recent years exceeds VND10 trillion ($411.95 million).

Crab has been identified as one of the province’s leading key sectors, second only to shrimp, since this year. Each farming area has established its own brand, and all crabs from these establishments have origin traceability tags attached.

Live Ca Mau crabs from Vietnam are currently exported to China, the U.S., and Japan, but with low volume. Ca Mau is thus supporting businesses in seeking partners and landing large export orders.

Vua Cua is a brand specializing in selling products from Ca Mau crabs. It owns chains of restaurants, crab-selling kiosks, and banh canh (Vietnamese-style noodles that resemble udon) eateries. It successfully exported various sauces to the U.S. prior to Ca Mau crabs.