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Phuc Sinh's K Coffee coffee products participated in the Sial fair in France. Photo: TL

Going upstream is difficult

Sharing at the seminar "Market fluctuations and business opportunities in the year-end season" recently organized by the Association of High Quality Vietnamese Goods Businesses and Leading Business Club (LBC), Mr. Nguyen Le Quoc Tuan, General Director of Song Huong Technology Food Processing Company Limited (Song Huong Foods), said that this year, Song Huong Foods was not affected by the market, and even still achieved growth rate. This positive result is due to the fact that the company has shifted towards exporting for about 2 years now.

Mr. Tuan shared that by 2022, 90% of Song Huong Foods' sales came from domestic retail chains such as Bach Hoa Xanh, Win and Saigon Co.op. But by August this year, the proportion of these three chains decreased to only 32%. "With this decline, if there is no compensatory export channel, Song Huong Foods will certainly be in danger" - Mr. Tuan emphasized. Accordingly, the export channel currently accounts for more than 60% of the company's sales, this proportion has surpassed previous expectations of 30-35%.

Mr. Phan Minh Thong, General Director of Phuc Sinh Company also shared that export coffee prices are at the highest level in the past 30 years with growing import demand from overseas markets. However, the company currently has no more goods to export and is waiting for a new harvest at the end of October. In this year's crop, Phuc Sinh's coffee export output increased by 15% over the same period last year. This enterprise's pepper exports also recorded an increase of about 8% and are currently exporting regularly.

Similarly, although it has only been a startup for about 4 years, from the beginning of the year until now, Sokfarm coconut nectar product of Tra Vinh Farm Co., Ltd. has continuously approached customers in international markets. To date, Sokfarm coconut nectar has been exported to many leading demanding markets such as Japan, the Netherlands, Germany and soon the US market. Although the new export channel only accounts for a small proportion, about 5%, of the company's total sales, Sokfarm's progress in the international market shows certainty and high growth potential.

The key to deep processing

Sharing about the the promotion factors amid the general market difficulty, Mr. Phan Minh Thong said that deep processing is the key to helping Phuc Sinh "survive" during the pandemic years as well in post pandemic period. “Competing with raw materials will be very difficult because of the low selling price and the harvest season only lasts a few months. Thus, deep processing enables businesses have products available all year round and the value will also increase a lot" - Mr. Thong shared.

Therefore, Phuc Sinh constantly expands investment in deep processing activities with many products being sold on foreign supermarket shelves under the company's own brand, such as K Coffee coffee sold in American supermarkets and preparing to enter supermarkets in Europe. Typically, Phuc Sinh's pepper sauce products, which currently account for 50% of the world market share have been collected and repackaged by other companies. Similarly, Phuc Sinh's freeze-dried pepper has also been exported very successfully. Currently, Phuc Sinh's products have reached 102 markets on all continents and the export channel is contributing to 99% of the company's sales.

Mr. Thong assessed that since the Covid-19 pandemic, food issues have been of great awareness. Thanks to that, many Vietnamese food products have been popular around the world and have been enhanced Vietnam's brand quality. "Vietnam should take advantage of this opportunity to consolidate and enhance its position in the world market" - Mr. Thong said. Phuc Sinh is also trying hard to take advantage of this opportunity. Specifically, this October, Phuc Sinh has inaugurated a factory in Son La to produce cascara tea - a type of tea made from ripe coffee husks and is being exported at a price higher than the price of coffee. Next, a spice processing factory is also preparing to go into operation next November in Binh Duong.

Regarding Song Huong Foods, Mr. Tuan shared that just a few days ago, the company's partner in the US requested to place an order for this year's Tet season with a 50% increase in quantity compared to last year's Tet, equivalent to the value of about 600,000 USD. For the whole year, this company's revenue in the US market amounts to nearly 2 million USD. According to Mr. Tuan, previously the company mainly exported shrimp paste, shrimp paste, and eggplant paste to the US. However, the company has shifted to Vietnamese traditional dishes which can better satisfy the needs of Vietnamese expatriates. Accordingly, this year Song Huong Foods has up to 19 dishes exported to the US such as nam cake, filter cake, spring roll cake, sticky rice, gai cake, orange cake, beef cake and many vegetarian dishes... All are frozen at minus 18 degrees Celsius according to standards of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the future, Song Huong Foods plans to bring more traditional Vietnamese dishes to the US to serve overseas Vietnamese. Mr. Tuan even hopes to conquer foreign customers.

Sokfarm has chosen and persistently pursued the direction of investing in standards and deep processing. Currently, this startup has 7 products made from coconut nectar such as concentrated coconut nectar, coconut nectar sugar, coconut nectar vinegar, fermented coconut nectar, coconut nectar soy sauce... Deep processing enables Sokfarm to increase the value of products from coconut trees is 2-3 times higher than before. In particular, with a series of USDA, EU, JAS, and Canadian organic certifications for both raw material areas and processing plants, Sokfarm easily conquers international customers not only for its unique flavor but also its quality and safety standards in each product.