Toward Distinctive Vietnamese Cocoa Brand in the World

With its premium taste and fair value chain, Vietnamese cocoa has received special attention from domestic and foreign investors. Vietnam has a chance to become a new cocoa producer that can change the status of the cocoa industry.

Untapped potential

Speaking at the conference jointly organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium in Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, Director of International Cooperation Department (under MARD), said Vietnam is currently focusing on agricultural restructuring, focusing on the production of high value products and cocoa is one of them. Vietnamese cocoa has won many international awards. In 2015, this Vietnamese product was ranked by the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) as a premium cocoa. However, after peaking in 2012 with 25,000 hectares, the cocoa area in Vietnam is now only 5,000 hectares.

According to Mr. Paul Jansen, Ambassador of Belgium to Vietnam, Belgium is a world leader in the production capacity and quality of chocolate, in which cocoa is the most important raw material. Meanwhile, Vietnam possesses a very unique type of cocoa, which has a fruity and mildly sour flavor that is difficult to find. This factor can help Vietnamese cocoa become a unique product, occupying an interesting niche in the world.

In addition, Vietnamese cocoa also has another great opportunity as the worldwide demand for cocoa products is increasing. The chocolate industry is consuming more than four million tons of cocoa beans from around the world, with chocolate consumption increasing at an average of 5.7%. Vietnam is one of the countries that can meet the demand for fermented cocoa beans for chocolate manufacturers. Currently, the Vietnamese cocoa industry has exported hundreds of tons of beans to the world market, including a difficult market like Japan. These are good premises for the development of cocoa trees in the future.

However, despite many favorable conditions, the cocoa industry in Vietnam hasn’t fully utilized its potentials and advantages. According to Mr. Nguyen Trong Tung, Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production (under MARD), the economic efficiency of cocoa is not really attractive to farmers, the yield is 11 quintals/hectare, lower than expected. Besides, cocoa also has to compete with other trees. The fluctuation of world cocoa price affects domestic purchases. The economic efficiency of cocoa is lower than that of other crops such as coffee or cashew when comparing per unit area.

Proactive to seize opportunities

According to Mr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, there will be a series of aspects for development including: breeding; planning of growing areas; product fermentation storage; connecting with businesses for preliminary processing to increase the value of the product.

Accordingly, in order for the cocoa industry to seize opportunities, aiming toward building a distinctive Vietnamese cocoa brand on the world market, experts and businesses believe that it is necessary to find solutions to link between farmers, small businesses with large corporations, helping to develop a comprehensive and sustainable cocoa industry in the future. Besides, the management agency needs to come up with a suitable plan for cocoa. There should be a mechanism to link and develop an appropriate price policy between businesses and farmers.

From an enterprise perspective, Mr. Dang Tuong Khanh, Director of Trong Duc Cocoa Company, affirmed that in order to develop the cocoa industry, seed production was extremely important. There should be an effective support policy for seedling production units. At the same time, units involved in the cocoa chain are involved in the activities of cocoa development centers.

Emphasizing that Belgium is a global chocolate leader in terms of production capacity as well as quality, Ambassador Paul Jansen affirmed that Belgium was ready to assist, seek available support, to connect Vietnam's cocoa industry with the Belgian cocoa industry. “Belgium and Vietnam have a strategic partnership in agriculture. Vietnamese cocoa has high potential and Belgium has a lot of expertise to offer. Let's try our best together to give Vietnam's cocoa bean a worthy status,” Ambassador Paul Jansen emphasized.

By Ha Thu, Vietnam Business Forum