"King of Sea Grapes" struggles with his career
To have quality products like today, Mr. Nguyen Quang Duy in Nha Trang City ( Khanh Hoa ) has spent a lot of effort, money, material, even mortgaged his house to pursue his dream.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan and his delegation visited Mr. Nguyen Quang Duy's seaweed production factory.
Thinking back on the story of making sea grapes, Mr. Duy said: “The story of my journey of making sea grapes is endless, because there are so many ups and downs and hardships. From the first days of making sea grapes, from the growing area, the people making the products, the machinery and equipment serving the production to exporting, it has been a long journey.”
Recalling, Mr. Nguyen Quang Duy said that he used to be the manager of a famous pharmaceutical company in Khanh Hoa province, so when he approached products with high medicinal properties, he was very fascinated. Surprisingly, he read documents about seaweed, and from then on, he cherished the desire to bring Khanh Hoa products to serve the health and life of the people.
Mr. Nguyen Quang Duy in Nha Trang City (Khanh Hoa) has spent countless efforts, money, and materials to pursue the product of sea grapes.
Without hesitation, in 2012, after discussing with his family, Mr. Duy invested in a trial of 3,000m2 of seaweed, then increased it to 30,000m2 with a yield of about 2.5 tons/ha in Ninh Hoa town. During this time, he encountered many difficulties and challenges, because the output was very difficult, and people did not know about these valuable products, and the difficulty in consumption caused him many sleepless nights.
With the encouragement of his family, friends and relatives, he continued to stick with the profession of growing sea grapes. Luck also smiled on Mr. Duy when in 2014, a group of Japanese experts came to Ninh Hai farming area to visit and test (under the cooperation program). They assessed that the quality of sea grapes in Ninh Hai, Ninh Hoa was even better than that of Okinawa sea grapes in Japan, so the Japanese side proposed to export sea grapes back to Japan.
Journey to bring sea grapes abroad
Sitting pensively looking at his product, Mr. Duy continued, the first time he brought a shipment worth about 1 billion VND to Japan with so many expectations, after seeing the product being returned by the partner and all the products destroyed, he was extremely disappointed.
DT Group signed with HGP USA CORP.
During this period, looking at the economic difficulties of coastal people, unemployment of rural workers and some abandoned lands causing waste, Mr. Duy felt the need to be determined to make a model of sea grapes to help people escape poverty.
Khanh Hoa people are harvesting sea grapes.
To have capital, Mr. Duy had to mortgage his house to the bank to continue production. At the same time, he packed his bags and went to Japan to learn from experience and understand the process, to ensure strict market standards.
Right after that "studying with a master" trip, in 2021, Mr. Duy successfully exported sea grapes to two main markets, Japan and the US, with an average quantity of 40 tons/month, and up to 120 tons in peak months.
Riding on the victory, Mr. Duy continued to mobilize people in Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, and Ninh Thuan provinces to convert crop structures in coastal areas, especially ineffective ones, to growing sea grapes.
Thanks to the sea grape seaweed industry, hundreds of local workers have additional income.
Mr. Duy signed a contract to purchase all output products for farmers, after deducting expenses, farmers still earn a profit of 10 - 15 million VND/month, some households grow 2 - 3 hectares and earn a profit of 40 - 50 million VND/month. Farmers associated with Mr. Duy's company will be invested in production capital, transferred appropriate seaweed growing technology and purchase all output products to ensure farmers have profit and peace of mind in farming. During the process of growing seaweed, if any technical problems are encountered, the company staff will guide and provide timely solutions.
With dedication, enthusiasm, diligence, hard work, perseverance and tireless working spirit, DT Group's sea grape products, with Mr. Nguyen Quang Duy as General Director, have gradually become known to many people, and many customers have praised the product quality. Mr. Duy is always proud of having a completely green production process, thanks to which he exports to many domestic markets, especially demanding markets such as Japan, the US, Canada, Korea, Australia... bringing in revenue of over 40 billion VND/year.
Mr. Duy is very passionate about making sea grapes.
Mr. Duy confided that in the past 5 years, the unit has invested heavily in focusing on science and technology and deep processing of product lines to best serve customers and has produced seaweed snacks, seasoned seaweed, syrup from seaweed essence, etc.
In 2020, Mr. Duy set a Vietnamese record for the largest seaweed farming area and output in Vietnam. For many years, the company's seaweed area has continuously expanded, and farmers in the area have also changed their lives. Currently, the seaweed growing area has reached nearly 100 hectares.
It is known that in early February 2023, during a working trip to the South Central region, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan and his delegation visited the sea grape seaweed production factory of DT Khanh Hoa Seaweed Joint Stock Company in Cat Loi village, Vinh Luong commune, Nha Trang city.
Minister Le Minh Hoan enjoyed fresh seaweed, as well as two new products: instant dried seaweed and Sanack seaweed with Okinawa lobster flavor that DT Group has just successfully researched.
Mr. Duy's seaweed products attract visiting groups. Photo: Cong Tam
After visiting the model and enjoying the products from seaweed, Minister Le Minh Hoan highly appreciated the product lines. According to Minister Le Minh Hoan, to have a foothold in the market, we must create different products, as well as pay attention to packaging which determines 80% of the product's success.
Sharing with the delegation, Mr. Duy said that the factory was built with a processing and packaging area and a systematic product preservation system. In particular, the seaweed processing and packaging area has an area of 8,000m2, currently providing stable jobs for nearly 300 local workers. All harvested seaweed will be transferred here to be re-cultivated in cement tanks for processing and controlling impurities.
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