Thai Nguyen tea gets trademark in international markets

The collective trademark "Thai Nguyen tea" has been successfully registered for copyright protection by Thai Nguyen province in the US, China, Taiwan (China) and Russia.

Technical staff of Thinh An Tea Cooperative inspect pests and diseases in the intensive tea area operating under VietGap standards. Photo: Hoang Nguyen/VNA
Technical staff of Thinh An Tea Cooperative inspect pests and diseases in the intensive tea area operating under VietGap standards. Photo: Hoang Nguyen/VNA

The collective trademark is also continuing registration procedures in Japan and the Republic of Korea.

This information was announced by Duong Van Luong, Vice Chairman of the Thai Nguyen Provincial People's Committee.

Thai Nguyen is the province with the largest tea area in the country. Tea is the main crop of the province, contributing to the enrichment of the people. However, Thai Nguyen tea products are still mainly consumed domestically, exports account for only about 20% of total sales, not commensurate with potential.

According to the Thai Nguyen Tea Association, Thai Nguyen tea exports in the first five months of 2021 were estimated to have reached over 700 tonnes of dried bud tea, export of high quality green tea tends to increase to fastidious markets such as Poland, Germany, the US, and Japan.

Currently, Thai Nguyen tea exports have two product lines, one is exported in the form of raw materials with very low prices, about US$ 1.5-2 per kilogramme. Second, some businesses have reached into difficult markets, exporting high-class tea products with prices above US$ 10 per kilogramme, even up to US$ 100 per kilogramme, but only up to about a few hundred tonnes.

According to Nguyen Thi Nga, Chairwoman of the Thai Nguyen Tea Association, Thai Nguyen tea's potential for export is huge, as the locality has high-quality tea areas. At the same time, the province also has a lot of policies to develop tea plants, from input materials to trade promotion, market development and brand building.

Currently, Thai Nguyen province has assigned the Thai Nguyen Tea Association to build the project "Application of digital technology to manage production, traceability and trade of Thai Nguyen tea products" according to Blockchain technology.

Duong Van Luong said that Thai Nguyen currently has one local tea brand in the form of geographical indication protection and 7 brands in the form of collective trademark protection. In the coming time, Thai Nguyen will strengthen the management and application of information technology and digital transformation in the agricultural sector, especially in the planting and processing of tea products.

Along with these, it is necessary to focus on promoting the province’s tea products to the international market, managing the quality of tea plants, and creating international confidence in Thai Nguyen Tea products.

At the same time, it is necessary to attract investment from domestic and foreign enterprises in tea growing, processing and creating high quality, and focusing on diversifying tea products to meet the needs and tastes of the international market.