Over past years, trade promotion has not only targeted the domestic market. but also export outlets, to gradually increase value and affirm the presence of Vietnamese agricultural products, especially One Commune One Product (OCOP), on the world map.

Nguyễn Minh Tiến, Director of the Agricultural Trade Promotion Centre under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, talks to Việt Nam News reporter about future growth plans.

Việt Nam is an agricultural country and finding markets for farming produce is an extremely important task. Trade promotion is considered a useful tool to help the country realise this task?

Under the annual trade promotion programme being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), our centre is assigned by the ministry to coordinate with relevant units to host annual trade fairs and market events. Normally, these events are organised and associated with the start of the main crop of agricultural specialties, especially fruits.

It can be said that the annual events have gained the great attention of local customers.

Meanwhile, after an encouraging performance in 2024, agricultural exports started to recover and grow in the past five months of this year. The exports saw a year-on-year rise of 21 per cent to reach US$24 billion with positive growth seen in large markets such as the US, China, and Japan.

In addition to facilitating agricultural exports, the MARD has also directed units to promote the consumption of farming produce in the domestic market, connect supply and demand, and curb inflation. And it can be said that over the past five months of this year, prices of agricultural products and food were controlled at low levels.

Exports of fruits, typically durian, have also grown strongly. Last year, we shipped a lot of durian products to the Chinese market but in order to ensure sustainable development, we do not only want to rely on the export markets but also need to foster connection and consumption in the local market.

What about trade promotion activities through e-commerce platforms?

Today, consumers not only buy goods through traditional channels but also through e-commerce platforms and social networks.

As part of these events mentioned above, many live stream sessions selling agricultural products, especially OCOP ones, have been held on social networking platforms such as TikTok.

More than 800 live stream sessions of the OCOP market event are held every Saturday in 38 localities with a total revenue of more than VNĐ100 billion ($4 million), attracting 1.4 billion viewers.

Since then, specialty agricultural products from provinces and cities have been introduced not only to consumers in the capital but also to those nationwide.

What is the plan to promote OCOP products in the future?

The OCOP programme was implemented in 2018. After six years, we have developed many groups of OCOP products. As many as 12,075 products across Việt Nam have been rated three stars or higher, exceeding the quantity target set for the 2021-25 period.

Among the products, 73.9 per cent achieved the three-star status, 24.7 per cent got four stars and 42 products five stars, while the remainder is potential five stars.

There are 6,542 OCOP producers, 32.5 per cent of which are cooperatives, 22 per cent enterprises, 40.3 per cent production establishments and business households, and cooperative groups make up the rest.

According to the MARD, from now until the end of 2025, the top priority will be given to supporting OCOP producers to improve product quality and diversify product design so their products will be consumed in the domestic market but also exported.

Therefore, at trade fairs and market events, we have helped businesses advertise many OCOP products, especially processed ones, thereby diversifying the product ecosystem. Hopefully, these OCOP markets will be an opportunity for OCOP producers to introduce new products in the ecosystem to local customers and let consumers see that OCOP products increasingly ensure standards and quality.

Some typical OCOP products will be selected to gradually export to ASEAN, China, and other foreign countries.

It's worth mentioning that last year, the MARD organised an OCOP booth in Milan (Italy) for the first time. A similar booth will be slated for this year. Through these events, we want to send a message to domestic consumers that OCOP products have increasingly improved their quality, not only meeting the diverse needs of domestic customers but also the strict standards and requirements of export markets. — VNS