Promoting advantages, building Thai Nguyen tea into a national brand

Although Thai Nguyen tea has conquered many tea connoisseurs at home and abroad, the story of building a national brand for this product is still a concern for managers, scientists and people in the industry.

Đẩy mạnh xây dựng thương hiệu quốc gia cho sản phẩm Chè Thái Nguyên

Efforts to build the national brand of Thai Nguyen tea. (Source: VNA)

The advantage of "tea land"

Currently, Thai Nguyen is the locality with the leading tea output and area in the country. As of 2023, the whole province has over 22.2 thousand hectares, of which the tea area for output reaches 20.9 thousand hectares.

Along with the transformation of the seed structure, the province has focused on promoting the application of scientific and technological advances in the production and processing of safe VietGAP and organic tea to improve product quality and contribute to promoting sustainable agricultural development.

Up to now, the total tea growing area applying good agricultural practices according to VietGAP standards has been certified at 4,356.7 hectares; 11 hectares have been certified at UTZ Certified standards and 127 hectares have been produced using organic standards, of which 65 hectares have been certified as organic (5 hectares meeting IFOAM standards and 60 hectares meeting TCVN 11041-2:2017 standards).

Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Thai Nguyen province Pham Quoc Chinh said that the province currently has 1 geographical indication "Tan Cuong" for tea products that has been recognized for protection in the European Union (EU) through the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA); 2 certified trademarks "Phu Luong Tea" and "Vo Nhai Tea"; 9 collective trademarks, including: "Thai Nguyen Tea", "La Bang Tea", "Tuc Tranh Tea", "Vo Tranh Tea", "Trai Cai Tea", "Dai Tu Tea", "Pho Yen Tea", "PD Phu Dat GREEN TEA", "Thanh Tinh Tea Cooperative". In addition, there are 96 common trademarks of organizations and individuals that have been granted protection certificates.

Currently, in Thai Nguyen, there are 4 famous tea growing regions: Tan Cuong, La Bang, Trai Cai and Khe Coc, known as the "Four Great Teas". These are the raw material regions to produce famous specialty tea products and have been protected by intellectual property rights.

Thai Nguyen tea products are processed by traditional semi-mechanized and industrial methods, and are available in 63 provinces and cities nationwide and in some countries around the world. The average value of products obtained per hectare of tea is 270 million VND/ha.

In particular, the domestic market is the strength of Thai Nguyen tea, reaching nearly 40 thousand tons with domestic consumption prices always higher than other tea regions and relatively stable, currently at 120-220 thousand VND/kg of medium-grade finished tea; 280-450 thousand VND/kg of specialty green tea; some high-end tea products with high value reach from 1.5 million VND to over 5 million VND/kg.

Regarding brand building, up to now, the collective trademark “Thai Nguyen Tea” has been officially protected in 6 countries and territories around the world, including the US, China, Taiwan (China), Russia, Japan and Korea. This affirms the prestige, quality, reputation and value of Thai Nguyen tea, and is also a favorable condition to bring this product to the world, contributing to enhancing the position of Thai Nguyen tea.

However, the current difficulty of the Thai Nguyen tea industry is that the area of safe tea and organic tea is very small, the rate of VietGAP safety quality certification is only nearly 10% of the total area. In addition, the connection between the agents related to the production chain and the value chain of the tea industry is not tight, mainly tea growers still process and consume by themselves, the number of units and enterprises that have connections with tea growers is not much, not creating a large output of high-quality processed tea products.

Although exported to many countries, it is mainly raw tea with an average price of only 60% compared to the world market price, used to mix with other types of tea or for extraction.

According to the Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thai Nguyen, Pham Van Sy, the value of tea is not commensurate with its advantages and potential. The reason is that investment resources for developing tea production are still limited, not meeting production needs; the output of tea meeting national organic standards is still low. On the other hand, the connection between production organization, design, and packaging at some production facilities is still limited, there are still tea production and trading facilities that are not fully aware of the importance of using product labels and Thai Nguyen tea brands.

Efforts to build the national brand of Thai Nguyen tea

Identifying beverage consumption trends, market demand, opportunities and to enhance the value and brand of tea, Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee issued Resolution No. 10-NQ/TU on agricultural development; Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 139/QD-UBND approving the Project on developing key agricultural products for the period 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030, with support policies on training, varieties, organic and biological fertilizers; VietGAP and organic certification; support for mechanization, application of water-saving irrigation systems and tea processing equipment; support for packaging, labeling, branding, connecting promotion, trade promotion for tea product consumption.

Recently, the province has organized many conferences to collect opinions from experts, managers, production, processing, consumption enterprises, and consumers to develop the Thai Nguyen tea brand.

To promote advantages, according to experts, Thai Nguyen province needs to continue reviewing land funds to expand tea growing areas; protect existing areas; increase intensive cultivation, care, expand safe and organic tea production areas, increase areas using water-saving irrigation systems, especially promote winter tea production to bring the highest tea production value.

In addition, actively promote and guide tea growers to register growing area codes; strengthen brand management; actively link growers with cooperatives, and between cooperatives, unify the application of production processes to create large volumes of tea products of uniform quality to increase the value of tea, aiming to export to demanding markets.

The province also needs to review and select tea areas to build tea production models associated with eco-tourism, historical, cultural and culinary relics to attract visitors, shoppers, promote and consume tea products.

Building and developing Thai Nguyen tea into a national brand will expand domestic and foreign consumption markets. (Source: Thai Nguyen Newspaper)

It is known that Thai Nguyen province has determined to invest in developing tea trees in the direction of improving quality, added value and competitiveness. By 2025, the tea area is expected to reach 23,500 hectares, the output of fresh tea buds will reach 273,000 tons; the product value per hectare of tea land will reach 350 million VND.

In addition, the province strengthens brand promotion, trade promotion, connection, and creates conditions for tea enterprises and cooperatives in the province to participate in trade conferences, seek and expand markets for tea products. Strengthen guidance on intellectual property procedures; implement content to support the creation of tea product brands. In particular, strongly implement the management of the use of the "Tan Cuong" Geographical Indication for tea products on the market.

Vice Chairman of Thai Nguyen Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Binh said: "The province has directed not to change the purpose of tea growing land to other purposes to protect the existing tea area; review land funds, water sources, prepare enough seedlings and fertilizers, strive to increase the tea area to 23,500 hectares by 2025, of which the area of new tea varieties accounts for 85%; at the same time, implement technical measures for care, design, production organization, processing, and promotion to increase the value to an average of 350 million VND/ha of tea/year".

Thai Nguyen Department of Science and Technology continues to advise the Provincial People's Committee to assign tasks to localities on building brands and trademarks of agricultural products; strengthen training and propaganda so that enterprises and cooperatives can better understand the benefits of trademark registration, the benefits and effectiveness of building brands of local key products.

Building and developing Thai Nguyen tea into a national brand will expand domestic and foreign consumption markets, boost exports and increase the value of Vietnamese products. This is also an opportunity for businesses to boldly invest in machinery and equipment to diversify tea products, thereby offering many products suitable to the tastes of each country.

Source