Strengthening brands of agricultural products

Vietnam has several hundreds of agricultural products and specialties with different tastes and great economic value such as Dien grapefruit, Thanh Ha litchi, Thanh Hoa fermented pork roll, Ben Tre coconut and Can Tho rice. Therefore, promoting branding for these products in the domestic market is required. 

Promoting branding

Son La Province’s Moc Chau District is well-known for not only milk products but also tea. Moc Chau tea has been exported to many countries in the world, including the fastidious markets such as Japan and the EU.

However, lacking a branding strategy and geographical indication, Moc Chau tea has not been popular in the domestic market. Therefore, businesses will face big challenges in seeking outlets when export markets become more difficult. Some provinces in the country have about dozens of specialties. However they have not paid great attention to brand protection registration, while international integration requires products with clear origin. Therefore, improving the position of Vietnamese specialties in the domestic market is necessary.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products and Salt Production Director Le Van Banh said that awareness about building brands of Vietnamese businesses has remained limited, especially businesses specializing in trading agricultural products. Around 32 percent of agricultural businesses have promoted branding, while 45 percent of those have not adopted specific strategies.

“Branding accounts for 30-60 percent of the product value. Vietnamese farmers and businesses may face many challenges and fiercer competition from imported agricultural products due to lack of strategies in building brands and geographical indications. In particular, Vietnamese agricultural products will be hard to find foothold in the market if branding is missing,” Le Van Banh said.

Efforts

Long-term branding strategies are required to help Vietnamese agricultural products find foothold in the domestic market. Specialty implies the difference and high-quality, but products have not yet reflected these characteristics. Therefore, businesses need to pay special attention to branding, and trade promotion activities will play a decisive role.

Trade promotion activities should not be narrowed in a local scale. It needs to expand to other regions or large cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. For example, the Vietnamese Regional Specialties Fair organized by the Hanoi Trade, Investment and Tourism Promotion Center is the annual event, aiming at promoting and developing the market for specialties from all regions in the country.

This year’s Vietnamese Regional Specialties Fair took place between December 1-4 in Vincom Mega Mall Royal City. The products on display were carefully selected, certified and assured about quality and food safety, including seafood, candy, tea and coffee, fresh fruits, beverages, processing food, spices and other agricultural products. Hanoi introduced some specialties such as young sticky rice flakes by Vong Village, sweet cake made of young sticky rice and green beans, Uoc Le sausages, Phung fermented pork, lotus seed jam and peanut candy. In particular, the Hanoi Trade, Investment and Tourism Promotion Center organized some seminars to seek solutions about expanding market and brands for local specialties as well as promote cooperation between Hanoi and other regions in developing brands for specialties.

The most important issue is to help specialties win consumer trust. It requires the participation of large businesses with great economic potential. In addition, strengthening regional links between localities is mentioned as necessary, contributing to increasing domestic market shares.

Vietnamese agricultural products have been exported to many markets. If branding strategies are well implemented, agricultural products will also win consumer trust in the domestic market, contributing to bringing greater benefits.

Phuong Lan / ven