Tea Industry Looks to Int’l Standards

The Vietnam Tea Association (VITAS) and exporters are accelerating applications of international standards for Vietnamese tea to penetrate into high-quality markets.  

Solidaridad and Unilever are also engaging in Vietnamese tea producers’ effort.

 

Last November, Tan Cuong Tea Cooperative (Thai Nguyen Province) was licensed UTZ Certified by Solidaridad.

 

Tea became the third commodity in Vietnam to apply UTZ Certified standard after coffee and cocoa.

 

UTZ Certified helps produce clean and safe products thanks to its environmentally friendly processing process.

 

Beside UTZ Certified, VITAS is encouraging tea growers to apply another international standard called Rain Forest (RFA). Unilever is now providing help for Phú Bền Tea company (Phú Thọ Province) to apply RFA.

 

Though VietGAP and GlobalGAP have been introduced to tea production, these standards do not gain international reputation. Meanwhile, UTZ and Rainforest are widely caught attention from customers. These are good visas for made-in-Vietnam tea to enter international tea markets.   

 

Last year, Vietnam exported around 131,000 tons of tea, earning US $198 million, down 4.3% in quantity and 0.8% in value. Experts attributed the decrease to disadvantageous weather and poor quality of tea exports.