Many failures to become the king of fruit export

General Director of Vina T&T: Many times "losing" to become the "king" of fruit export

Having brought fresh Vietnamese fruit to all markets from easy to difficult such as China, the US, the EU, Japan... Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung is confident that the Vina T&T brand will be at international level in the near future.

Many times of "losing" to become "king"!

The meeting between the reporter of the Investment Electronic Newspaper - Baodautu.vn and Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung, General Director of Vina T&T took place right at the event of the 2024 Vietnam Outstanding Export Goods Fair.

Taking us to visit the booth with all kinds of fruits from durian, mango, fresh coconut, star apple, grapefruit... Mr. Tung said that despite the limited area, he tried to display almost all of his ecosystem at the fair to introduce, promote and find new cooperation opportunities.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung displayed his ecosystem at the Vietnamese Export Fair held from May 8-10 in Ho Chi Minh City to seek and expand partners in the international market.

“People call me the king of fruit exports. But this journey has been very difficult. Especially when I decided to choose the US, an extremely difficult market to exploit,” Mr. Tung began the story.

To achieve such a title, since 2008, when many Vietnamese fruit export businesses "shook their heads", Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung decided to "attack" the US market.

“When the US opened its doors to fresh Vietnamese fruit in 2008, I chose dragon fruit as an export product to this market. After being harvested, the dragon fruit was loaded onto a truck, transported to the irradiation plant, then unloaded for irradiation, and then loaded. These steps seemed very normal, but the process of loading and unloading the fruit, then running it through the irradiation machine, caused the dragon fruit to go into thermal shock, causing the fruit to soften, resulting in a total loss,” said Mr. Tung.

Or the company has had several batches of rambutans destroyed by FDA experts because workers did not check them carefully before packaging. Even at the irradiation plant, sometimes the company had its entire batch of rambutans destined for the US destroyed.

Another loss was that Mr. Tung recently had to dump 4 containers of longan worth 76,000 USD each because of his insensitivity to the weather. His longan was harvested during a frost in the growing area. Although the packaging showed no signs of damage, the longan fruit was moldy when it arrived in the US.

Despite many times of "failure" and total loss, the owner of the Vina T&T brand was not discouraged but learned the lesson that with the characteristics of the fresh fruit and vegetable industry, which is perishable quickly, having to go by sea would take longer even though the cost was cheaper. He was forced to make calculations and invest more in the control and maintenance of the quality of pre-export goods.

He also succeeded in being the first unit to export a batch of fresh Vietnamese coconuts to the US, receiving an order of 100,000 fruits/week in 2019 and beating his Thai competitor who had been the number 1 importer of fresh coconuts in the US market for many years.

Fruit export king Nguyen Dinh Tung - CEO of Vina T&T Group hopes to bring the brand he built to international level.

Although there were many times when he was "scratched and scratched" and there were also times when he wanted to switch to another business direction, Mr. Tung was lifted up by his wife from the West.

Few people know that Mr. Tung used to work in the police force and then this CEO of Vina T&T, born in 1978, used to work in the police force and started a business in the transportation sector. Mr. Tung's wife was born in the West. The two letters T&T in the name Vina T&T are a combination of Mr. Tung and his wife, Thao.

“The motivation that makes me continue to live and die with fruit is my wife. She is from the West, the largest fruit granary in the country. Seeing farmers producing delicious fresh fruit having to sell at low prices, dumped in piles, and unstable output has urged me to find ways to export,” Mr. Tung confided.

Furthermore, because of not ensuring the conditions, the goods were often damaged when exported to the US, he suffered losses until 2012 and many times considered quitting the business, but at that time many American partners contacted Mr. Tung and assessed that Vietnam had many delicious tropical fruits compared to other countries in the region.

Hearing that, Mr. Tung got up and affirmed that Vietnamese fruits were capable of reaching out to the world , especially to demanding countries like the US. He also asked himself the question, "How can we preserve the deliciousness of Vietnamese fruits to the US and other countries?" From there, the businessman born in 1978 decided to invest in machinery and human resources to remake everything according to the standards and regulations required by the host country.

In fact, that perseverance has changed the position as it is today, when Vina T&T is not only the leading unit exporting to the US (accounting for 50% of the number of about 15 Vietnamese enterprises exporting fresh fruit to this market) but also the leading enterprise exporting fresh fruit of Vietnam to major countries such as China, EU, Japan, Korea, Australia...

“Despite the many fluctuations in the situation, Vina T&T’s order volume remains stable year-round. After the first four months of this year, the business grew by 18% compared to the same period last year,” the CEO of Vina T&T happily said.

How to redefine fruit exports

Participating in the 2nd Vietnam Outstanding Export Goods Fair, Mr. Tung said that in addition to having many more opportunities to directly negotiate with domestic and foreign partners, he also met with more suppliers such as farmers and cooperatives to find sources of supply to expand raw material areas.

Vina T&T focuses on investing in the quality of growing areas to meet the standards required by import markets. Photo: Gia Han

“I expect that this year's Fair will have more partners, but my biggest expectation is to build a Vina T&T brand that exports professional agricultural products at a world-class level, not just in the region,” Mr. Tung said about his ambition.

Mr. Tung shared that up to now, Vina T&T is the first agricultural enterprise to use 100% renewable energy even though the world has not yet made it mandatory.

Realizing that the transformation of green economy and circular economy is an inevitable trend, Vina T&T always continuously improves standards in the markets it exploits. With Mr. Tung's joint planting area, he provides technical support as well as encourages farmers to use just enough fertilizers and pesticides to reduce emissions into the environment. Implement the planting process according to the world's green, clean, and beautiful trends in addition to mandatory standards such as HACCP, GlobalGap, VietGap, etc.

"Although our partners have not officially raised this issue, they have suggested that we raise it so that we can prepare for the changing world situation where importing countries will require green certificates or environmental protection," said Mr. Tung.

Vina T&T is the first enterprise to hire American experts from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to inspect products at the enterprise before customs clearance to ensure quality and standards.

The CEO added that although investing in the conversion to 100% clean energy will increase operating costs and force prices to rise, Vina T&T will have to compete with businesses in other countries that have not converted in terms of output costs. However, Mr. Tung sees that in the long run, the business will benefit and become a pioneer that is qualified to supply goods to demanding markets.

The "fruit king" emphasized that on the path to international reach, the story of closely connecting with farmers to obtain supply is of utmost importance.

Over the years, we have built links with farmers in raw material areas throughout the network of provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta. We have invested heavily and carefully in brand image and people. For farmers, we will be a reliable partner, providing technical support, capital and unique qualities that have been demonstrated over many years. The proof is the success of Ke Sach Soc Trang Milk Apple, Song Hau Farm Longan, and Cho Gao Dragon Fruit, which are long-term partners and have a stable standard of living because they are guaranteed output by Vina T&T", Mr. Tung shared.

Vina T&T General Director said that we must provide full support with experience and techniques to ensure that the quality of products meets the required size and sweetness levels of other countries so that the products can be sold at better prices. This way, businesses also benefit, this is a win-win relationship supporting each other on the journey to bring Vietnamese agricultural products to the international level.

Especially in the coming time, to position the Vina T&T brand in the world market, businessman Nguyen Dinh Tung said he will bring Vietnamese fruits to conquer more "niche" markets such as India, the Middle East, Africa...  

Source: https://baodautu.vn/tong-giam-doc-vina-tt-nhieu-lan-thua-moi-tro-thanh-vua-xuat-khau-trai-cay-d214815.html