Building a trademark for Vietnamese rice

Vietnam is currently the third largest rice exporter in the world, behind India and Thailand. The country’s 2014 rice output was estimated at 45 million tonnes, of which over 6.3 million tonnes was exported, bringing home US$2.93 billion in export revenue. However, the rice industry is currently confronted with many difficulties and challenges.

 

Vietnam currently has over 200 businesses producing and trading rice on large and medium scales, however, the use of trademarks in the market, especially the export market, is almost yet to exist. Therefore, the competitiveness of Vietnamese rice on the international export market is not only limited to price or quality, but also includes the national trademark value, aiming to secure a good reputation with buyers. This is also an urgent and important requirement, particularly in the current context of global economic integration.

 

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has recently approved a plan to develop the Vietnamese rice trademark until 2020 with a vision stretching to 2030 in a move to affirm the value of Vietnam’s rice products as well as to promote them to producers, importers, distributors and consumers from both at home and abroad, creating a foundation for enhancing and developing markets and raising the added value and competitiveness of Vietnamese rice. This is a necessary move to restructure the rice industry in terms of product competiveness and market promotion aiming to ensure the sector’s sustainable and effective development.

 

The building of a national trademark will be associated with the product value chain, building production zones and the application of science and technology on rice varieties, techniques, processing, preservation, packaging, marketing and distribution. Furthermore, developing a trademark for Vietnamese rice will include a process of building common values to maintain trust from enterprises and consumers in rice products via the prestige of businesses and products and the State’s guarantee. Vietnam’s rice products will be associated with national advantages, regions and localities regarding the quality, value, origin, history, traditional culture and other socio-economic values.

 

Hence, in order to build a trademark for Vietnamese rice, it is necessary to select a market segment of high-quality rice and rice specialties for exports, aiming to improve the competitiveness and value of products currently flooding the markets of Japan, the Untied States and the European Union. In addition, stability in traditional markets also needs to be maintained with medium-quality rice products, the value of which can be improved via direct distribution channels and enhancement of consumers’ trust.

 

(Source: nhandan.org.vn)