Brand positioning, elevating Vietnamese agricultural products

DNVN - Building brands for agricultural products plays a very important role in increasing value and improving product quality. The agricultural sector has achieved many successes in recent times. However, there are still limitations that need to be assessed and oriented to perfect policies and laws to promote, build and develop brands for Vietnamese agricultural products.

On March 18, in Can Tho city, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) chaired the workshop "Consultation on perfecting legal policies to build Vietnamese agricultural product brands".

80% of exported agricultural products have no brand

The report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at the conference showed that Vietnam's agricultural development has achieved many great achievements in recent times. Food production has increased rapidly in both quantity and quality, ensuring abundant supply, meeting domestic consumption needs, contributing to social stability.

Trade in agriculture, forestry and fishery products has increased rapidly. Export turnover in 13 years (2008-2020) reached over 382 billion USD, an average increase of 8.01%/year. Export turnover of the entire agricultural sector in 2022 reached over 53 billion USD, an increase of 9.3% compared to 2021.

Despite achieving impressive export figures, up to 90% of Vietnam's agricultural products are still exported in raw form, with export prices lower than similar products from many other countries.

Many Vietnamese agricultural products have export output that ranks among the top in the world, but they hardly have a strong brand that is widely known by consumers.

80% of exported agricultural products have not yet built a brand, do not have their own logo or label, and have not fully participated in the global value chain. Many products are exported and sold in foreign markets under brands that are not owned by Vietnamese enterprises.

According to Mr. Tran Cong Thang - Director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development (IPSARD), the shortcomings and limitations in building Vietnamese brands in recent times are pointed out. That is, the issue of building Vietnamese agricultural product brands has been mentioned a lot but is still general, products are scattered in decisions and programs without a comprehensive, specific strategy for the products; there is no coordination between relevant parties (ministries, branches; between the Central and local levels); few national key agricultural products are protected by intellectual property rights; the number of enterprises entitled to use trademarks for national products is still limited; management and development of agricultural product brands are still weak...

According to Mr. Thang, to build and develop an agricultural product brand, it is necessary to have good products; good businesses participating on a large scale; a good ecosystem for developing agricultural product brands and connecting large brands towards common interests.

Building strong brands for Vietnamese agricultural products

Building a brand for agricultural products plays a very important role in increasing the value and improving the quality of products, increasing competitiveness in the market. However, the path to building a brand for Vietnamese products is not easy, requiring perseverance, persistence and high determination.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Ho Quang Cua - the "father" of the world's best rice ST25 said that in 2019, right after winning the world's best rice award, he had to continuously deal with intellectual property infringement. Specifically, 6 months after winning the award, a company in the US registered the exclusive rights to the keyword ST25. With the guidance of the Intellectual Property Office (Ministry of Science and Technology), he embarked on a very difficult battle to regain the brand, and it was not until September 22, 2022 that he achieved results. To date, ST25 rice has been protected in the UK, EU, China, Australia, the US...

Mr. Cua believes that building a national rice brand must have a focus and key points. That national rice brand must be a typical representative of the country's most quintessential product.

Regarding the issue of brand building, Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen - General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association said that the fruit and vegetable industry exported about 5.6 billion USD last year, an increase of 70% compared to 2022. Of which, durian exported nearly 2.3 billion USD, mainly through the Chinese market.

“It is necessary to build and protect the national brand for this key product. There must be strict measures to control the harvesting of unripe durians that do not meet quality standards; promote the development of standards and regulations for exported durians; only grant export licenses for reputable durians that can create a national brand… Currently, there is a situation where everyone exports for themselves, which will greatly affect the reputation and national brand,” Mr. Nguyen suggested.

Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said that we have achieved many successes in agricultural development and agricultural product branding. However, there are still many issues that need to be properly assessed and oriented to perfect legal policies to promote the building and development of Vietnamese agricultural product brands.

Based on the opinions of the units, the Ministry will proceed to develop a decree on the management and development of agricultural product brands. Agricultural products need to have standards and trace their origins.

The drafting of the decree revolves around three issues. According to Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam, these are building a value chain for agricultural product brands; building agricultural product brands according to the value chain of goods; and building a management mechanism for departments, localities, and sectors.

Localities and business associations need to select key agricultural products with strengths and quality to focus on building brands.

Hoa Minh

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/dinh-vi-thuong-hieu-nang-tam-nong-san-viet/20240318064805939