In the last days of 2015, Vingroup, Vietnam's leading property developer, launched its brand of clean rice, VinEco, with a plan to supply organic rice to the market.
After nearly a year of participating in the agriculture sector, the giant property developer officially started co-operating with Trung An Company, one of the leading rice producers with a large volume of rice exports, to realise its ambition to build the competitiveness of Vietnamese rice.
Before VinGroup, many large Vietnamese firms operating in different sectors announced their big investment plans in agriculture including Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Hung Phat, Thu Duc House, An Duong Thao Dien, TH, FPT, and Hoa Phat among others.
Explaining the involvement of the Financing and Promoting Technology Corporation (FPT) in agriculture, a completely different area from FPT's core area, FPT Chairman Truong Gia Binh said "with agriculture, Vietnam can move ahead". The agricultural sector has never been so attractive to giant corporations as now.
At a wider perspective, this movement is very significant to the development of Vietnamese enterprises as they are seeing the opportunity for Vietnam to become a powerful agriculture country thanks to its advantages in geography, climate and the diversity of agricultural products.
However, enterprises also anticipate challenges and the agriculture sector may lag behind when new-generation free trade agreements, particularly the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), take effect with strict requirements on technical barriers.
If Vietnam continues to maintain agricultural production methods based on households with an uncontrollable production process and quality, Vietnamese agricultural products will be discredited in high-level markets. As a result, many Vietnamese agricultural products will have to move to less demanding markets such as Africa and China, bringing in low value and instability, said Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Vu Tien Loc.
The involvement in agriculture of large Vietnamese firms who have seen success in other areas is creating a positive trend, helping to bring industrial production methods and technology into agricultural production, Loc noted. This trend also forces enterprises to reorganise production and connect with others to boost exports, creating a turning point for the agriculture sector and opportunities for deeper international integration.
According to Truong Hai Auto Chairman Tran Ba Duong, Vietnamese entrepreneurs have to think and work differently compared to the previous years without comprehensive integration, saying that if they don’t take action, they will have no chance to build and develop Vietnamese brands.
Duong added that at this time, enterprises not only work for profits but have to work in an environment of integration and create real value, which is the only way for Vietnamese brands and enterprises to develop sustainably amidst a competitive environment.
