Thai Nguyen Tea Conquers the World Market - Part 2: Fame as a Key Tea Export Region

Before 1993, Vietnamese tea products in general and Bac Thai tea (now Thai Nguyen) were only exported to 3 countries: Russia, England and China. Now, the consumption market has expanded to 110 countries and territories. During its heyday, the province's tea export activities were quite bustling with dozens of export purchasing companies and processing factories in many tea regions.

Thai Nguyen tea quality is increasingly improved.

Warmth thanks to the arms of friends

In the late 1990s, tea was a key foreign currency earning commodity, averaging 8-9 thousand tons of dry tea per year, accounting for about 40% of total output, with a turnover of approximately 10 million USD, making an important contribution to the provincial budget.

Mr. Vi Van Thu, 78 years old, former Vice President of Vietnam Tea Association (term 2003 - 2008), former first President of Thai Nguyen Tea Association, former Permanent Vice President of Provincial People's Council recalled: From the 60s - 70s and the early years of renovation, Bac Thai province (now Thai Nguyen) became a locality with a large tea export material area with many famous tea farms at home and abroad, such as Song Cau tea farm, Quan Chu tea farm...

Thai Nguyen tea used to account for a large proportion of the Vietnamese tea industry's exports for a long time. Socialist countries, notably the Soviet Union and China, created favorable conditions for importing a lot of Vietnamese tea in general and our province's tea in particular, and almost all of the tea produced was exported. In these years, a large amount of tea was industrially processed for export, with very limited domestic consumption.

Mr. Trinh Xuan Uyen, 86 years old, former Party Secretary of Tuc Tranh commune, former Chairman of Tuc Tranh cooperative confided: In Phu Luong district and Tuc Tranh commune, tea trees were considered a key agricultural crop since the 1960s, people produced large areas to sell fresh tea to industrial processing factories for export to the Soviet Union. Tuc Tranh cooperative became a member of the Vietnam Tea Association, at that time I was the Chairman of the cooperative and was elected as a member of the Association.

In 1988, in order to exploit the strengths of tea trees for local economic development, I was sent to the Soviet Union to sign a contract to export black tea. In the same year, the Tuc Tranh Tea Factory was built, specializing in producing black tea for export to the Soviet Union. The cooperative exported hundreds of tons of tea to the Soviet Union and earned tens of thousands of rubles. Tea was also exchanged for goods with the neighboring country, expanding trade and service sectors and investing capital to develop production sectors in the whole commune, improving and stabilizing the lives of local people. - Mr. Trinh Xuan Uyen

In the following years, the Factory cooperated with Quan Chu Tea Company (Dai Tu) to produce and process tea for export, purchasing raw materials for thousands of tea-making households in and outside the district. Tuc Tranh is the first commune in the province to invest in connecting the national grid to serve production and daily life, and is also the only locality in the province to select and support funding for children to study at universities to return to serve their homeland.

Many households in Thai Nguyen have produced organic tea, ensuring food safety and meeting consumer demand.

Mr. Hoang Van Thuy, Group 5, Song Cau Town (Dong Hy), is one of 9 typical farmers, excellent in production and business, who have just been recognized by the Provincial Farmers' Association in 2024, with revenue from tea reaching 2.8 billion VND/year. Mr. Thuy's family's tea garden originally belonged to Song Cau Tea Company. After the company was dissolved, it was divided among households, and many workers of the farm have now become tea farmers. Because the company has done a good job in selecting tea varieties and applying science and technology to the production process, over the years, the productivity and quality of tea have not been affected.

Journalist Hoang Thao Nguyen, Head of the Vietnam News Agency in Thai Nguyen, said: I am the child of a worker at the Song Cau tea farm (Dong Hy). Thanks to exporting tea, during the subsidy period and the early years of renovation, our material and spiritual life was more abundant than in many other places, even in big cities. When exporting tea, people did not have to worry about output, factories purchased all of it for industrial processing. In later years, households processed it manually and found their own markets. Thanks to early access to science and technology, mastering modern and manual production methods, many families have created their own reputation, brands and become rich from tea trees.

Premium tea conquers international market

Making its mark in building brands, labels and choosing high-quality ingredients to create high-value tea products, Hoang Binh Company Limited has processed Tan Cuong dried tea buds into luxurious gift boxes named: Tri am tea, Tinh tam tea, Phu quy tea... with prices 5-7 times higher. At the Da Lat tea culture festival (Lam Dong) 2006, the company participated in 5 tea samples with the Tan Cuong - Hoang Binh brand, excellently winning the Golden Tea Branch Cup and the Tea Culture Cup. After that, the company signed a contract to export 2,180 tons of tea worth over 40 billion VND to China. In addition, the company also exported natural flavored tea bags to countries: Korea, USA, Russia, Ukraine...

The application of technology and automatic tea irrigation is being widely applied in tea growing areas in the province.

Investing in clean and safe production, in 2008, Van Tai Tea Joint Stock Company (Pho Yen) exported to Taiwan, Korea and Japan two types of tea, Oolong and Red Tea, with a quantity of over 30 thousand tons/year, priced from 400 thousand VND - 1 million VND/kg, 5 times higher than the domestic market price.

In an effort to find a way to consume its products, Khe Coc Safe Tea Cooperative, Tuc Tranh Commune (Phu Luong) has successfully built a safe tea area of ​​more than 40 hectares; of which, 20 hectares have been certified to meet Vietnamese organic standards, and 23.5 hectares are continuing to convert from VietGAP standards to organic. In 2019, through the introduction of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, the Cooperative signed a product consumption contract with a business unit in Poland. Thanks to that, the Cooperative has exported 3 products including green tea candy, green tea matcha and tea bags to the European market. In 2022, the Cooperative successfully exported nearly 20 tons of tea to the European market at a price 1.5 times higher than the domestic market.

Mr. To Van Khiem, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Khe Coc Safe Tea Cooperative: "In order for tea products to enter the European market, the cooperative must produce to meet the very strict standards of its partners from safe raw tea growing areas, factories, machinery, packaging, and tea quality."

Mr. Duong Son Ha, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, said: Currently, Thai Nguyen tea products have been widely consumed in and outside the province. In the past 2 years, the price and value of tea exports are estimated at 4.5 million USD, the main export markets are: Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Iran, China, Taiwan (China) ... in which Pakistan accounts for the majority of the export market share. Enterprises and cooperatives have exported products to the US, Korea, Japan, and China markets with deeply processed products and high economic value.

It can be seen that, in recent times, Thai Nguyen has effectively implemented many tea development policies, promoted organic and safe production, built and developed brands, and enhanced promotion to the world. A typical example is the Tom Non tea product of Ha Thai Tea Company, which won the Silver Prize at the North American International Specialty Tea Competition organized by the American and Canadian Tea Association in 2016. In 2017, the "Dinh Vuong Pham" tea product of Tan Cuong Hoang Binh Tea Joint Stock Company won the Special Prize of this competition, bringing honor not only to Thai Nguyen tea but also to the entire Vietnamese tea industry... These are valuable opportunities for tea production and processing enterprises in the province to develop high-end tea products and brands to reach demanding markets.

In recent times, Vietnam has exported tea at an average price of 1.7 USD/kg (the world average price is 2.6 USD/kg). Meanwhile, domestic tea prices range from 120,000 VND to 800,000 VND/kg (equivalent to 4.5 USD to more than 30 USD/kg), depending on the type of tea and brand. Exported tea is usually just raw tea, packed in large bags, without labels. Import partners buy it, pack it in small bags, label it with their own labels, and then sell it. Therefore, consumers in other countries do not know that the tea originates from Vietnam.

(To be continued)

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/kinh-te/202506/che-thai-nguyen-chinh-phuc-thi-truong-the-gioi-ky-2-vang-danh-vung-che-xuat-khau-trong-diem-a402ce5/