China to establish joint tea brand with Vietnam

China is currently the 12th largest import market for Vietnamese coffee and the 4th largest import market for Vietnamese tea. The potential and import demand for Vietnamese agricultural products by China is still significant. The Chinese side even wants to establish a joint tea brand to raise cooperation to a new level.  

Illustrative photo. Source: Internet

Speaking at the forum “Vietnam, China boost tea and coffee production cooperation” on the morning of October 14, in Hanoi, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that China is big country in agriculture with great productivity. This is also a huge market with 1.4 billion people.

Currently, Vietnam has relatively large agricultural production capacity. In 2018, Vietnam exported agricultural products to 185 countries worth more than US$40 billion.

Regarding the relationship between Vietnam and China, the potential for cooperation is great. In 2018, Vietnam’s export to China were worth about US$8.5 billion and imported agricultural products and equipment from China were worth about US$2.6-2.7 billion.

“These are quite modest figures in the potential of cooperation between the two sides because agricultural products between Vietnam and China are complementary but conflicting. The development of agriculture is promoting development together,” said Cuong.

For tea and coffee alone, Cuong recognizes great potential when the countries cooperate. Currently, total global coffee productivity is 9 million tons. Vietnam ranked second in the world for producing nearly 2 million tons, bringing in US$3.2 billion.

For tea, the whole world has 4.3 million hectares with productivity of five million tons of dry tea, with total value of US$8 billion. Vietnam ranks 7th in the world for production area of tea and 5th for productivity. Vietnam has favorable ecological conditions with two-thirds of the mountains and highlands with ancient tea trees.

“Meanwhile, China earned nearly US$2 billion per year in the US$8 billion value chain of the tea industry. China occupies a large output and has a tradition of processing technology. If the two sides work together in processing and developing the market, the tea industry would not only develop in Vietnam and China but expand to the global market of 7.7 billion people,” said Cuong.

Minister of Rural Agriculture of China Han Chang Fu said that currently, China is implementing a tea industry development strategy to meet the needs of people all over the world.

Vietnam has very favorable natural conditions for tea cultivation. China and Vietnam have both a tradition and large productivity of tea and hold important position in the global tea market. Vietnamese tea and coffee also play an important role in the Chinese market.

“We want to establish a joint tea brand to promote cooperation to a new level. In the future, we will hold exhibitions about the tea and coffee industry and hope to welcome the Vietnamese delegation to join in to bring greater development to Vietnam's tea and coffee industry,” Minister Han Chang Fu said.

For agricultural and aquatic products, China is Vietnam’s largest export market, accounting for 27 percent of Vietnam’s total agricultural and aquatic product export turnover and accounting for 30 percent of total merchandise export turnover to this market.

However, China is currently only the 12th import market for Vietnamese coffee and the 4th for Vietnamese tea. Therefore, the potential and demand for importing Vietnamese agricultural products is still remarkable.