Brand "Cơm Vietnam Rice" is loaded onto containers for export to Europe. Photo: DNCC

No room for ‘anonymous’ rice

On the last day of June, Vietnam’s rice industry received two pieces of good news.

Two big Vietnamese rice exporters, Loc Troi Group Joint Stock Company and Tan Long Group Joint Stock Company, successfully exported their own branded rice products to Europe and Japan.

Specifically, Loc Troi Group announced that 500 tons of rice branded "Vietnamese Rice" of enterprises are being transported by sea and will arrive in Germany, the Netherlands, and France in July 2022. On the same day, in Japan, Tan Long Group, Kiraboshi Bank Japan (business connection unit), Sun-Tommy importer and Spice House distributor held an event to officially launch AAN rice products in Japanese supermarket systems.

After many years of being almost "anonymous" in foreign markets or having to be packaged under the brand of foreign importers, Vietnamese-branded rice has had the opportunity to be recognized and built a name.

Accordingly, the rice exported this time are all high-quality rice varieties that have won prizes at international competitions. In particular, the fragrant rice brand Loc Troi 28 in this shipment was certified to win the first prize at the 5th Mainland Rice Trade Conference held in China in 2018 and won the first prize in the "Vietnamese brand Rice of the Year" contest at the 5th Vietnam Rice Festival held in Vinh Long in January 2022. Loc Troi said that all these shipments are guaranteed for quality and are packed in separate packages that have registered international designs of the group. In particular, the total amount of rice "Vietnamese Rice" exported to France will be sold in Carrefour - the largest supermarket chain in Europe.

Meanwhile, a batch of ST 25 rice with A An brand name was exported to Japan by Tan Long Group after passing an extremely rigorous testing process with more than 450 criteria. This is also the first time that a domestic rice brand has been successfully exported to an extremely difficult market like Japan

From August 2020, Trung An Hi-tech Agriculture Joint Stock Company also exported Trung An branded rice to the European market. Mr. Pham Thai Binh, General Director of Trung An Company, said that all rice sold by the company to Europe is packaged with the Trung An brand name. Trung An rice varieties to exported to Europe include KDM rice, ST24 rice and DT8 rice.

“The successful export of the company's own branded rice enables European consumers to know more about Trung An rice in particular and Vietnamese rice in general and can promote sales here," said Mr. Binh. Currently, on average, the company exports 10 containers of rice every month and 3 containers of noodle products with Trung An brand. Accordingly, Tung An's exported rice currently accounts for about 20% of the company's total rice exports.

Sweet achievements from synchronous qualified production process

Vietnamese brand rice successful export to Europe and Japan - two of the most demanding markets in the world, has confirmed the quality of Vietnamese rice products. This also shows the positive results of the methodical investment in the synchronous and quality production process of enterprises.

In particular, Loc Troi has built a farming process that meets the quality criteria of high-end markets such as Europe, the United States, Japan, and Australia. Loc Troi's rice production system meets meeting strict standards in the world such as BRC, SMETA, HACCP, and HALAL. The company organizes rice production on a large scale, cooperates with cooperatives and more than 200,000 farmer households, develops and guides the implementation of farming processes to optimize, mechanize seasonal activities, organize harvesting and transportation, etc. to improve production efficiency and reduce costs, ensure stable profits and contribute to improving the quality of life in rural areas.

Similarly, Tan Long also built a closed farming and production management process "from field to table" through the consumption of large sample fields. Tan Long uses purebred rice registered by Ho Quang Cua, a leading expert in agriculture and the "father" of the world's best rice ST25 as well as the leading rice varieties such as ST24, and Japonica. Enterprises always strictly control pesticides and chemical fertilizers and the rice has no genetically modified rice varieties, no pesticide residues, no colorings, flavors, preservatives, or bleaching. Many organic rice products are grown according to the strict organic standards of USDA, JAS, and the EU.

Trung An Company has also developed more than 30,000 hectares of large fields, meeting quality management standards. Accordingly, Trung An is one of the enterprises selected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as a model for developing large fields in the Mekong Delta to expand to other regions. Currently, Trung An's rice is present in 19 markets including Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, among others. Most of Trung An's fastidious customers maintain brands and long-term cooperation relationships such as; SengKang Kong Hwa Chan, Always Fresh, and Evergreen Rice.

With the solid foundations available, enterprises are trying to bring Vietnamese rice to conquer the world market. Nguyen Duy Thuan, General Director of Loc Troi Group, said that although this export shipment of "Vietnamese Rice" rice is not too large, it is the first step in the group's journey of thousands of miles of brand rice to conquer the global market. Enterprises will coordinate with international partners, Vietnamese business representatives in other countries to continue promoting Loc Troi rice in particular and Vietnamese rice in general to world users and better meet consumer tastes in each particular market.

Mr. Nguyen Chanh Trung, Deputy General Director of Tan Long Group also said that the export of other key rice product lines such as ST24, ST24 Organic and Japonica are promoted to market so that the Japanese, the Asian community and especially Vietnamese expatriates in Japan, have the opportunity to access and enjoy Vietnam's high-quality, specialty rice products. After Japan, Tan Long will continue to look for opportunities in other potential big markets such as the US or EU.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pham Thai Binh revealed positive signs in the market expansion plan of Trung An brand rice. Customers in the US have agreed and are waiting for samples to try. If successful, Trung An's premium rice, pho and dry vermicelli will be able to penetrate American market in the near future.