Planting cinnamon for export

Speaking about the people making the first contribution to bringing cinnamon to Dinh Hoa must include Mr. Pham Van Vu, Director of Vu Hoa Co., Ltd. based in Cho Chu town (Dinh Hoa district).

In 2008, Mr. Vu decided to invest in planting 30 hectares of cinnamon at the foot of So pass (Quy Ky commune). The trees suited the soil, grew and developed well. The exploitation and thinning of cinnamon forests also brought income to help cinnamon growers make ends meet.

Realizing that cinnamon possesses many market prospects, Mr. Vu went to meet the then Secretary of the District Party Committee, Mr. Luong Van Lanh, to propose an expansion. After having listened to explanations and observed, the former Secretary of the district asked the District People's Committee to set up a working group to study the development of cinnamon in “the cinnamon capital” in Yen Bai.

When returned to Dinh Hoa, Mr. Lanh directed the authorities to urgently deploy cinnamon cultivation by developing the Scheme contents and including it in the Resolution of the District Party Congress. In 2015, Dinh Hoa District People's Committee coordinated with Vu Hoa Co., Ltd. to develop a project to grow cinnamon in the district in the 2015 - 2020 period.

To carry out the project, the District People's Committee assigned the District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dinh Hoa Safety Zone Forest Management Board in association with Vu Hoa Co., Ltd. to support all initial investment costs (including seedlings, fertilizers), and training people on planting and caring for cinnamon trees. In addition to supporting the plantation and caring process, Vu Hoa Co., Ltd. also committed to purchasing all cinnamon products from the people during thinning as well as after harvesting to serve the local essential oil processing factory.

Up until the present date, the cinnamon tree area in Dinh Hoa district has reached nearly 3,000 hectares. At the current temporary processing plant of Vu Hoa Co., Ltd., every day, the company imports raw materials purchased from the local cinnamon growers with an output of 10-15 tons. The purchase price is VND 1,500/kg.

According to Mr. Pham Van Vu, all cinnamon leaves and trunks are used for processing. The VND 1,500/kg price is just the price for buying branches, sticks and leaves that the locals left after making cinnamon bark. Moreover, the company also buys fresh cinnamon bark for VND 20,000/kg; cinnamon wood trunk VND 2.8 million/m3 (1.5 times higher than that of acacia wood). If other forest trees in the locality such as acacia, magnolia conifera, eucalyptus ... are only harvested once during the growth cycle of 7-10 years, the cinnamon tree allows people to exploit and prune many times from the 5th year to full harvest in the 15th year.

One hectare of cinnamon produces a thinning yield of up to 15 tons every year. According to calculations, from the 6th to the 10th year, with 1ha of cinnamon, each year, the people can earn about VND 25 million on average from the exploitation of cinnamon branches, leaves and bark. After the 15th year, the cinnamon forest will be fully exploited with a value of about VND 300 million/ha. If the total income within 15 years is calculated, 1ha of cinnamon will bring an economic value of over VND 550 million. Therefore, the economic benefits of cinnamon are completely superior to other forest trees.

Vu Hoa Co., Ltd. has signed a contract to export cinnamon products to countries in the Middle East, China, Taiwan, Korea... In order to meet customers’ increasing purchase demand as well as the commitment to underwrite the people’s products, the company is implementing the construction of a factory to produce and distill cinnamon oil in Kim Son commune.