Tea

General information

Vietnam ranks the fifth in terms of area and the sixth in terms of tea production in the world. In 2017, Vietnam has a tea plantation area of 129.3 thousand hectares with an output of 1,048.8 thousand tons of fresh tea. Vietnam continues to be the world's fifth largest tea exporter with export share accounting for about 7% of total world tea exports. In 2017, Vietnam exported 140 thousand tons of dried tea, reaching USD 229 million, increasing 7.2% in volume and decreasing 5.6% in value compared to 2016.

Currently, the tea sector has many shortcomings, including: (i) Small scale production, on average about 0.2 ha / household, it is difficult to access new technical equipment and certification for safe tea. (ii) Investment in infrastructure is still limited, new tea plantation area accounts for about 7% of the country's area, thus not bringing into full play the potential of new tea varieties (accounting for 54% of the country's area); (iii) The quality, food hygiene and safety (pesticide residues) of the tea industry has not met the requirements of developed country markets while the regulations on residues of pesticides (MRLs) in the EU, US and Russia markets are becoming more and more stringent; (iv) Many processing establishments have been granted construction permits but no raw material areas; low level of processing skills, tea quality is not high; (v) The link between production and processing is loose, only 10% of tea companies / factories have their own raw material areas for processing; (vi) The area of growing tea is increasingly narrowed because people use land to grow other industrial crops, and (vii) conservation of rare tea varieties has not been paid enough attention.

a) Organization structure and objectives:

The PPP TF on Tea was established in 2010 and is now co-chaired by Unilever, the Crop Production Department, IDH. The Viet Nam Tea Association (VITAS) acts as Secretariat. 

The PPP Task Force on Tea focuses on supporting smallholder producers to improve product standards, working in partnership with government, NGOs and the private sector, building comprehensive national capacity, ensuring the long-term economic, environmental and social sustainability of the Vietnamese tea market so as to expand the export market access of Vietnamese tea.

b) Key outcomes:

Over the past few years, the PPP TF on Tea has achieved remarkable achievements in integrating technical guidelines for cultivation and processing to improve the quality of Vietnamese tea for exports. Businesses participating in the PPP TF invested 440,000 Euros to train and link production models with more than 23,000 farmers in six provinces.

The PPP TF on Tea is working with the agro-chemicals TF to develop a value chain project to guide smallholders and help them improve their standards. Working in partnership with government, NGOs and the private sector, the PPP working group is developing good production methods (building and training capacity for sustainable tea farmers, using proper and allowed agrochemicals, towards getting certification such as Rainforest Alliance certification, UTZ certification, etc.) for inclusion into the national program.

Since 2015, 2 projects have been implemented  to support sustainable tea plantation by households in Viet Nam. By the end of 2017, two projects have provided training and implemented new production methods at 13 tea companies, for 1,207 trainers, 19,000 farmers, 29 plant protection teams; 19 companied have been certified, 4,125 farm households trained and certified, 12,706 tonnes of tea  and 3,931 hectares of tea certified and 39 farmers trained; set up the agricultural team to control the use of reasonable inputs.

The Department of Crop Production, the National Center for Agricultural Extension, the Northern Mountainous Science and Training Institute, the Vietnam Tea Association, IDH and enterprises are collaborating to develop a set of guidelines for sustainable tea production.

Members

MARD – Department of Crop Production (DCP) (Co-Leader)

Unilever Viet Nam International Co., Ltd. (Co-Leader)

IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative (Co-Leader)

VietNam Tea Association (VITAS) (Secretariat)

Asia Tea Company Ltd.

Ban Lien Cooperative

Cam Khe Tea Co., Ltd.

Cao Bo Tea Co., Ltd.

Cau Dat Tea Co., Ltd. (CADACO)

CropLife Viet Nam

Future Generation Vinh Phuc Company Ltd.

HaTinh Tea Co., Ltd.

Hai Thai Thai Nguyen Co., Ltd.

Henry P.Thompson Inc.

Hoang Long Tea Co., Ltd.

Huu Hao Tea Processing Co., Ltd.

Kien Tuan Tea Cooperative

Lam Dong Tea JSC (LADOTEA)

MARD–Department of Plant Protection

MARD–National Agricultural Extension Center (NAEC)

My Lam Tea JSC

Nam Anh Import and Export JSC

Nam LongTea Co., Ltd.

Nghe An Tea Development Investment Company Ltd.

Oriented Dragon Import and Export Co., Ltd.

Phu Ha Tea Co., Ltd.

Phu Lam International Trading Co., Ltd.

Phuc Khoa Cooperative

Phuong Nam Tea &Trading Co., Ltd.

Provincial Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARDs) in Phu Tho, Yen Bai, Son La, Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Lai Chau

Quang Binh Tea Investment Ltd.

Rainforest Alliance Ransfer Viet Shanam Co., Ltd.

SSOE Phu Tho Tea Company Ltd.

Suoi Giang Cooperative

Tam Duong Tea JSC

Thai Nguyen Import-Export JSC(BATIMEX)

Than Uyen Tea JSC

Thang Long Tea Trading & Services JSC

Ton Vinh Tea Co., Ltd.

URC Viet Nam Ltd. (Universal Robina Corporation)

Van Luong Tea Processing Factory

Viet Nam National Tea Corporation (VINATEA Co., Ltd.)