Vietnam News reporter Vu Hoa talks with experts in the sector about potential and challenges for the organic sector in Vietnam. He asked Mrs. Vũ Kim Hạnh, President of High Quality Vietnamese Goods Business Association if she could tell him anything about trends and opportunities for the organic food and beverage market in Vietnam?
She said that food safety continues to be a major concern for Vietnamese consumers. There has been an increased consumer demand for safe and high quality agricultural food products.
Organic food has become a hot trend in Vietnam. According to a study on Vietnamese organic enterprises, the current market capacity is estimated to be VNĐ3.5 trillion (€131 mln) a year. Today, nearly 80 food and beverage enterprises in Vietnam manufacture products that have been certified by the EU as organic, including Vinamit, Vinamilk, TH True Milk, ST24 rice, Trung An rice, Lương Quới rice, and Betrimex.
Regarding the criteria and the demand for organic food labelling in Vietnam, she said that some of the common labels prevalent in the organic food market today are based on international standards such as USDA, EU, JAS. These labels are unique to their geographic origin and are governed by stringent processes and regulations.
Vietnam is also making proactive steps to enhance the food labelling system for locally produced organic products, through the development of a national organic standard that will come into effect at the end of this year. The Ministry of Science and Technology plans to officially issue a framework to regulate the production, cultivation, husbandry, processing and labelling of organic agricultural products. In addition, the national organic standard will require production and processing systems of organic food producers to be assessed and certified.
Source: agroberichtenbuitenland.nl