To stabilise and develop sustainably in the international economic integration process, the Vietnamese tea sector needs to reorganise and eliminate existing shortcomings. In addition, the trademark is also an important step in asserting the quality of products.
As of late 2005, Vietnam grew tea on 120,000 ha, including 95,000 harvesting area with an average output of 5.4 tonnes per hectare. Compared with the year 2001, the area increased by 22.4 per cent, output by 20 per cent and export revenues by 28 per cent. According to the objective of the Government in developing the tea sector in the 2005-2010 period, the export revenues will reach some US$200 million. To date, Vietnam has only fulfilled half of the target.
According to an official statistic, Vietnam now has some 635 tea-processing enterprises. In recent years, Vietnam has invested in equipping with tea processing line, more modern than India but still more backward than advanced nations. This is also the core reason for the lack of competitiveness of Vietnamese tea on the world market.
Mr. Nguyen Kim Ngoc, Chairman of the Vietnam Tea Association, said, at present, there are many kinds of tea being exported to other countries. Each enterprise has its own trademark, leading to the confusion of customers in discriminating between the good tea and the bad one. In fact, the Vietnamese tea sector has not had a common trademark for both domestic and international market.
The Vietnamese tea exporting market is still small compared with the world because enterprises have not set up their focal markets. A few enterprises can export more than 1,000 tonnes a year while enterprises with an annual export output of less than 100 tonnes make up half. Thus, although Vietnam exports 80 per cent of its processed tea output and is holding the world’s 7th largest tea exporter position, the overview of the Vietnamese tea export is still of concerns.
According to Ngoc, in order to improve quality, diversify products and sharpen competitive edge and increase added values for its tea, Vietnam needs gradually expanding its mechanised tea cultivation area and bettering the caring and harvesting processes to keep tea quality. In addition, well-bred varieties should be cultivated and modern techniques should be applied to maintain the premium quality of tea.
To enhance production and business efficiency, the tea sector must immediately equitise its tea-processing units. Tea growers will become shareholders by contributing their lands and tea trees, and they will get dividends depending on the business result basis. Thus, the benefit of tea growers will be attached to their performances in tea processing and trading dry tea processes.
Apart from investing in processing technology and guaranteeing the export criteria, a national trademark should be developed. The Government has the Vietnam Tea Association to build a Vietnam’s national tea trademark. Qualified tea will be stuck the national tea trademark. Moreover, an international quality testing centre should be set up to check tea before exporting, Ngoc said.
In short, the quality improvement and market expansion lie in the first stages of the production process and the business professionalism. This is also the prerequisite condition for the success of Vietnamese agriculture as Vietnam carries out commitments for the entrance into the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Kim Phuong
Vietnamese
