Organic produce exporters explore global opportunities

Going global: Organic produce exporters eye more international markets. -- agritrade

Ho Chi Minh City – There is great potential for export of Vietnamese organic agricultural products to the US and Europe, but businesses need guidance and support from trade promotion offices to achieve this.

“Vietnamese organic products are competitively priced and have high quality but we need government agencies to connect us and organise promotions to get more international customers,” Nguyễn Lâm Viên, chairman and CEO of Vinamit Joint Stock Company, told Người Lao Động (Labourers) newspaper.

Vinamit has sold more than 200 tonnes of organic products, most of it to the US and the rest to France.

“We should process the products to get better profits.”

Due its limited capacity, Vinamit does not plan to expand now, he said.

Bích Chi Food Joint Stock Company in the Mekong Delta province of Đồng Tháp has sold organic rice paper to the US at double the price of ordinary rice paper. It has obtained organic certification from the US.

The Cần Thơ-based Trung An High-tech Agriculture Company has exported organic rice to Saudi Arabia at good prices and is trying to enter the European market.

“But we have only 100 hectares of internationally certified organic rice, so we cannot fulfil big orders,” Phạm Thái Bình, the director of the company, said.

International customers of the Mùa Service and Trade Joint Stock Company Organic want to buy more organic cashew, pepper, coconut oil and ginger from it, but like many other Vietnamese companies it is wary of accepting large orders due to its limited capacity.

Vietnamese high-tech agriculture is still done on a small scale and the products are still expensive, a Mùa spokesperson said.

“If authorities can support its development, organic agricultural products could meet the large international demand.”

Võ Minh Khải, general director of the Viễn Phú Organic and Healthy Food who has been in organic production for over 10 years and exports organic rice to several foreign markets, revealed that importers have expressed interest in investing in processing facilities in Việt Nam and for companies like his to process the agricultural produce.

He was speaking in the context that most of the organic products are processed little before export.

“The cost of building a successful organic brand name is high and requires time because enterprises must first have large production capacity to meet the demands of customers,” he said.