A new journey for the million-dollar export industry in Bao Loc

USD 15 - 21 million in revenue from tea and mulberry silk

According to the People's Committee of Bao Loc city (Lam Dong), over the years the locality has constructed and issued many programs and plans, focusing on building and developing the tea and mulberry silk industries with the brands " B'Lao Tea" and "Bao Loc Silk".

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong, Chairman of Bao Loc People's Committee, currently the total area of tea in the locality is estimated at 2,500 ha. Tea production and processing activities in this locality also change technology over time, applying modern production and processing processes, automation in some production stages (harvesting, processing and final product classifying).

Bao Loc’s tea products are widely consumed in domestic and export markets. Each year, nearly 12,000 tons of green tea, flavored green tea and Olong are consumed domestically. Products of black tea, green tea, flavored green tea are exported to Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and China. A large volume of products are also exported to difficult markets such as Japan and the USA. The annual export value of Bao Loc’s tea products is approximately USD 15 million.

Not only the tea industry, Bao Loc has also focused on developing the mulberry silk industry, and this field brings profits. Information from Bao Loc’s agricultural sector shows that the locality now has 700 ha of mulberries serving the production needs of 32,000 to 33,000 boxes of silkworm eggs per year, equivalent to 1,400 - 1,500 tons of cocoons.

Products such as silk and threads are exported to countries such as Japan, India, European countries, and Middle Eastern countries. According to Bao Loc People's Committee, the annual silk export turnover of the locality reaches USD 21 million.

To ensure the development of the silk industry, Bao Loc City People's Committee organized the building of a certified trademark "Bao Loc Silk" and was granted by the National Office of Intellectual Property trademark registration certificate No. 27/02/2017. Bao Loc People's Committee has granted the right to use the certification mark "Bao Loc Silk" for 14 enterprises up to the present date.

Improve quality, attract investment

Having its advantages as the base, Bao Loc identifies tea and silk as spearhead industries in economic development. The city focuses on restructuring the industries, converting inefficient crops to growing mulberries and raising silkworms, renovating the old, poor quality tea gardens to develop new, high quality tea varieties.

Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong, Chairman of Bao Loc People's Committee, said that the locality had come up with a number of solutions to develop the tea and mulberry silk industries.

Regarding the tea industry, in parallel with the development of raw material areas, the city focuses on the orientation of developing high-tech agriculture and improving production value. Bao Loc will build a tea-specialized model in areas with advantages of land, producing according to food safety standards, VietGAP, GlobalGAP while also promoting joint ventures and association in production.

In the field of mulberry silk production, Bao Loc prioritizes research and will develop new varieties with high yield and quality, adaptable to sub-climatic regions in order to exploit local advantages. The city will continue to negotiate with China to import official silkworm eggs to meet production demands while attracting more investment for silkworm egg development projects.

According to Bao Loc People's Committee, there are approximately 160 enterprises, establishments producing, processing and trading tea in the city. Bao Loc’s annual tea output is 23,000 tons.

As for the mulberry silk industry, 29 enterprises are investing in this field. To be more specific, there are 10 silk-incubating enterprises, 9 weaving enterprises, 1 printing, combing and dyeing enterprise, 5 silk trading enterprises, 3 silkworm egg production enterprises, and 1 silkworm seed egg trading enterprise. There are 10 households reeling silk by applying mechanization. The silk output exceeds 1,000 tons, silk fabric output is 5 million m per year.