Bringing 'made in Vietnam' tea products to the international market
Báo Nông nghiệp Việt Nam•06/12/2024
The OCOP program helps cooperatives complete the stages of the production chain scientifically and effectively, gradually bringing Tuyet Son Tra products to domestic and international users.
Suoi Giang is home to tens of thousands of ancient Shan Tuyet tea trees that are hundreds of years old. Photo: Thanh Tien.
Building the Tuyet Son Tra brand In the misty space of Suoi Giang mountain area ( Van Chan district , Yen Bai province), where green tea hills embrace the foot of the mountain, Ms. Lam Thi Kim Thoa has devoted her youth to bringing the famous flavor of Shan Tuyet tea to the world. Ms. Thoa is a strong woman, full of determination and aspiration, her tireless efforts along with the local people have helped Suoi Giang Shan Tuyet tea not only conquer domestic consumers but also gradually reach out to the international market. The ancient Shan Tuyet tea area in Suoi Giang has an area of about 400 hectares, of which the natural growing area is more than 300 hectares with more than 40,000 trees from 100 to 500 years old. With the weather covered in fog for 9/12 months of the year, high humidity, the tea buds are covered with dew, sunbathed, covered with a thin layer of velvety, white hairs like snow. Shan Tuyet tea has three main harvests a year: spring, summer and autumn-winter.
The perfect tea buds are a gift from nature to the local people. Photo: Thanh Tien.
Ms. Thoa recounted that she had a predestined relationship with this land since she got married and followed her husband to Suoi Giang as a daughter-in-law. In the first years of living here, she witnessed the difficulties of farmers in consuming tea products. Although Suoi Giang Shan Tuyet tea was famous domestically, the tea products of the farmers were mainly sold in raw form, had low value and had no brand. From these concerns, Ms. Thoa decided to start building the Suoi Giang Shan Tuyet tea brand with the belief that she could bring the tea products further, not only stopping at the domestic market but also supplying to the world. However, her entrepreneurial journey was not easy due to difficulties in capital, production technology, as well as convincing people to change their manual production habits. Ms. Lam Thi Kim Thoa shared that in 2007, when Suoi Giang Cooperative was established, it initially encountered many difficulties due to lack of financial resources, lack of technical staff in tea production and processing, lack of premises to build factories, transaction offices and lack of management experience. Therefore, the members of the Cooperative set the goal of "4 decisions" (determined to regain the brand for Suoi Giang tea area, build a team of indigenous workers, preserve and protect the precious tea area and determined not to retreat).
Suoi Giang Cooperative was established with the determination to build a brand for the precious tea region. Photo: Thanh Tien.
With the consensus of all members in contributing land and labor to build the headquarters and factory, the Cooperative has gradually built the brand "Tuyet Son Tra". Initially, the Cooperative focused on producing "Diep Tra" green tea products, which is the type of tea that most Vietnamese tea drinkers use. Later, to adapt to the wider tea market and the dream of exporting abroad, the Cooperative produced Black Tea, Yellow Tea and White Tea. The products always put prestige first, focusing on clean production, ensuring food hygiene and safety, combined with attractive product designs to create a brand. Building 5-star OCOP products to create export momentum After more than ten years of production and processing with rudimentary machinery and equipment, factories that did not meet standards, and monotonous products, in 2018, the Cooperative invested more than 2 billion VND to build a spacious factory, invest in modern equipment with a production capacity of up to 2,000 kg of fresh tea buds/day. The Cooperative also cooperated with a number of experts in the tea industry to train members and workers in the process of producing high-quality products. Thanks to that, up to now, the Cooperative has been one of the units with a team of skilled workers in tea production and processing. The factory system has met HACCP standards, the raw material area has been granted a Geographical Indication certificate, the tea trees have been numbered to trace the origin of the growing area, and some Tuyet Son Tra products have met 4-star OCOP standards.
Tuyet Son Tra products meet 4-star OCOP standards. Photo: Thanh Tien.
Up to now, the Cooperative has 6 types of products named Tuyet Son Tra with good quality, packaged with beautiful designs, gradually dominating the domestic and foreign markets. The selling price of tea depends on the type, ranging from 400,000 VND/kg, the highest priced product is over 4 million VND/kg. With 4 product lines named "Tuyet Son Tra" which are: Black tea, Royal tea, Leaf tea and White tea; in which there are 2 products: Shan Tuyet Black tea and Shan Tuyet Leaf tea that ensure European standards, exported to the UK and Japanese markets. The average annual revenue of the Cooperative is 2.2 billion VND; the average income of workers in the Cooperative is 5.7-6 million VND/person/month. According to Ms. Thoa, Director of Suoi Giang Cooperative, the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program is like a ray of light, helping the Cooperative to perfect, consolidate, and overcome all stages of the production and business chain in a more scientific, practical and effective manner. Up to now, the Cooperative's Tuyet Son Tra product has been recognized as a 4-star OCOP standard, and is currently continuing to improve its quality and design to upgrade to a 5-star OCOP product, creating momentum for product export.
Ms. Lam Thi Kim Thoa, Director of Suoi Giang Cooperative, is making efforts to bring products to the world market. Photo: Thanh Tien.
The goal of the female director of the cooperative is to increase sales and output of "made in Vietnam" tea products exported to some international markets such as the UK, Japan, and the US. This will create more jobs for workers, build a brand for clean tea areas to increase income for local people who have been attached to ancient tea trees for many generations. Mr. Luong Van Tam, Chairman of the People's Committee of Suoi Giang commune, said that to support the cooperative, the commune government coordinates with functional agencies to introduce businesses to participate in international fairs and exhibitions to introduce products. The cooperative's OCOP products are not only loved for their special flavors but also for the cultural and traditional values of this land. In addition, the locality also propagates and recommends that people pay attention to environmental protection, all tea production processes must strictly comply with food safety standards to ensure the health of producers and consumers. This not only helps make tea products more consumer-friendly but also contributes to protecting the natural landscape, creating a sustainable tea production model.
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