Agricultural product packaging enters a new competition

Agricultural product packaging is neither a new story nor an old story. Because the packaging of agricultural products is no longer limited to the concept that "good wood is better than good paint". To improve the value of agricultural products, the parallel problem to be solved is both "good wood" and "good paint".

Vietnam is a country with a long-standing tradition of agricultural production. However, there is a difference between self-sufficient production in a certain geographical scope and commodity production to serve the domestic market and export, where the quality of agricultural product packaging cannot help but be paid attention to.

At the 22nd International Agriculture Trade Fair (AgroViet 2022), the issue of "product packaging design consultancy in accordance with the market’s needs" was raised but has not yet attracted the attention of the business community.

In the trend of global economic integration, packaging not only fulfills the function of preservation and storage but also has to be aesthetic. Mr. Nguyen Minh Tien, Director of the Trade Promotion Centre for Agriculture, said that packaging plays an active role in promoting brands, preserving products, and distributing them to consumers. Therefore, product packaging directly affects the purchasing behavior of users and determines the success of businesses' products and sales campaigns.

According to statistics from the Vietnam Packaging Association, there are more than 4,000 units specializing in the production of agricultural product packaging, mainly concentrated in the Southeast and the Red River Delta. Agricultural product packaging requires not only technological lines but also the art of honoring agricultural products. Packaging not only needs to be attractive in shape and color but also has to show cultural identity.

When the 4.0 revolution is dominating many activities around the world, agricultural product packaging must be smart to transmit information quickly and fully. Smart packaging helps manufacturers interact with many different objects.

However, there is a paradox: we want the packaging to both have a suitable price and have many eye-catching and impressive effects to attract customers. In order to solve this paradox, the decisive factor is the vision of the business. If businesses do not have a clear awareness of continuously improving the aesthetic quality of agricultural product packaging, it is almost impossible to arrange financial planning and human resource strategy for this essential stage.

It is a fact that agricultural products always face many difficulties in preservation and storage because these are commodities that are perishable and susceptible to mold and degradation in a humid environment or at inappropriate temperatures. Commodities such as coffee, cashew, rice, pepper, fruit, tea, etc. are agricultural products exported to foreign markets with an output of millions of tons per year.

As for products such as coffee, cashew nuts, rice, etc., PP woven packaging is usually used to store products. For specific products, packaging needs to be equipped with waterproofing, BOPP film coating, PE film coating, etc. However, as technology develops and consumers become more knowledgeable and sophisticated, packaging design will also become important.

Currently, many businesses producing agricultural products are conscious of using environmentally friendly packaging. Paper and easily decomposed packaging are being selected to replace plastic and nylon packaging.

Vietnam's agriculture has many products with high reputations around the world, but packaging technology for agricultural products has many shortcomings. Some businesses that were early pioneers in innovating agricultural product packaging have achieved unexpected success in the international market, such as Phuc Sinh, Chanh Viet, PyloHerb, etc.

According to Ms. Le Kim Loan, General Director of PyloHerb Company, in order for packaging to show the value of Vietnamese agricultural products, besides the task of investing in technology to improve product quality, the task of investing in packaging to increase the product’s prestige and designing packaging suitable for the consumer’s tastes is also one of the important tasks.

Regarding designing packaging for agricultural products, Mr. Le Xuan Thai, Lead Designer of Phuc Sinh Consumer Corporation, said that Phuc Sinh Company always focuses on three very important factors. Firstly, the company always pays attention to the cultural values of Vietnam. Secondly, it is the integration factor. Phuc Sinh is always aiming for new things in the modern world. Thirdly, Phuc Sinh always pays attention to using reusable materials, contributing to protecting the environment.