Trade promotion helps OCOP enterprises walk through ‘Covid’ storm

The Covid-19 has brought devastation to all aspects of life across the country. In Quang Ninh province, the trading of OCOP, agricultural products such as groupers, oysters, and clams has been severely affected.

"The pandemic has affected both domestic and international markets leading to the disruption of supply chains and the stagnation in production.  Enterprises and individuals are now in trouble. Therefore, the long-term solution for the problem is to open up a bottleneck in the market," said Tran Phong, Head of Industry and Trade Management Office under Quang Ninh Department of Industry and Trade.

Thanks to continued effort of the industry and trade department in trade promotion and market diversification, more than 3.200 tons of fishery products were sold out from September 15 to October 7, bringing a turnover of nearly VND35 billion to the enterprises.

According the representative of Quang Ninh Farmer Association, to boost and support OCOP products, the association asked Quang Ninh People's Committee and its members to contribute to Farmer Support Fund. The association also proactively accessed and trained its members on how to design logos, labels and packages for their products.

Apart from the support of the local authorities, many OCOP enterprises have actively innovated and improved the production process and invested in technology to increase the quality with the focus on the production linkage models to make their products more competitive and more sustainable.

Besides, the competent agencies of Quang Ninh province have regularly organized evaluating and ranking OCOP products, boldly eliminating substandard and non-potential products from the list of OCOP goods.

Additionally, Quang Ninh's Department of Industry and Trade has also promoted and encouraged the local enterprises to participate in deep processing to create saleable products. Along with that, the department has accompanied localities in an effort to seek new markets and organize trade promotion events.

There are now 29 centers and outlets for OCOP products in Quang Ninh. The province has promoted connection inside and outside to put OCOP products up for sale in shopping malls, supermarkets, work canteens, school canteens and healthy grocery stores. To support the OCOP products to go beyond the local market, Quang Ninh has organized various events to promote trade, boost the development of effective brand names for OCOP products and encourage the participation of local people and enterprises.

Quang Ninh Farm and Fishery Product Week taking place in Mong Cai city in the early October this year was an typical example. The three-day event attracted 8,000 participants with VND980 million  in sales of which the OCOP product made up for VND820 million. The event in Hai Ha also attracted over 3,500 participants.

Nguyen Kien, Director of Promotion, Industry and Trade Development Center said: “We hope that these activities not only act as “bridges” to revive enterprises but also boost demand and restart production associated with supply chain and tourism promotion from now until the year-end.”

Through these events, many OCOP products like Nam Hai fish sauce (from Uong Bi), fresh milk, honey, tea were sold well, bringing a profit of VND50-80 million to enterprises in each event on average. With good results, many other trade promotion events were planned for example Vietnamese Farm and Fishery Product Week in Cam Pha, Ba Che, Uong Bi which took place in the late October and early November.

Particularly, Quang Ninh OCOP trade fair with a scale of 300 stalls will be organized in Ha Long City on November 26,2021. Apart from that, Quang Ninh Department of Industry and Trade will continue to develop plans to support the consumption of farm and fishery products and conduct promotion activities locally in the fourth quarter of 2021.

So far, Quang Ninh has 500 OCOP products of which 230 products are rated between 3 stars and 5 stars bringing a turnover of VND500-700 billion a year. The OCOP products are more and more improved to meet and satisfy customer needs while OCOP enterprises and cooperatives grow stronger and stronger. The OCOP program is creating a wide-range of products which not only serve tourism but also develop the brand for Quang Ninh province.