Phu Quoc fish sauce is approaching EU market through geographical indications

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Tourists are visiting a fish sauce manufacturing facility in Phu Quoc. Photo: Anh Vinh.

With the appellation of origin "Phu Quoc" protected in the EU, only fish sauce products that are manufactured, bottled in Phu Quoc island and meet specific quality standards are distributed to EU under appellation of origin of "Phu Quoc". This ensures that consumers are buying the exact product with characteristics and genuine quality, preventing counterfeiting, and unauthorized Phu Quoc fish sauce in the European Union market.

It took 6 yearsfor Phu Quoc fish sauce to be accepted by the EU for protection of geographical indications. This important accomplishment is achieved through the efforts of ministries and local associations. Ms. Nguyen Thi Tinh, Chairman of Phu Quoc fish sauce Association was glad to say that after the protection ,management and development of geographical indications of Phu Quoc fish sauce has achieved many results. Awareness of enterprises and customers also improved remarkably.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, since the acceptanc eof protection, fish sauce products sold in this market reached nearly 500,000 liters. Not only the amount increased, with the protection of appellation of origin, the selling price of Phu Quoc products which is certified by Vietnam authorities has increased from 30-50% depending on the different product categories. It also helps Vietnam enterprises to have the opportunity to increase export turnover to other markets such as the US, Australia, Japan, Canada. As forecast, when the free trade agreement between Vietnam and EU comes into effect in 2018, EU will agree to protect 39 geographical indications of Vietnam. Accordingly, apart from Phu Quoc fish sauce, the products with Vietnam specialty such as coffee, and tea will have the opportunity to exploit the benefit from the registration of geographical indications.

Thus, geographical indications are not only "the passport" for products of Vietnam reach difficult markets like the EU but also a tool to protect manufacturers, consumers and markets. It is also the basis for restrictions of using fake, imitation brands, and improving competitiveness in comparison with regular products. Therefore, the expansion of products, particularly agricultural products towards registration of geographical indications is the right direction to increase export opportunities to the EU. Ms. Le Thi Thu Ha, a lecturer at the Foreign Trade University acknowledged: "The more difficult the process of building a dossier of geographical indications for the Phu Quoc fish sauce is, the larger opportunity for this product to reach the EU. Therefore, we need to have a strategy in order to exploit and take advantage of this opportunity".

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However, in order to overcome the technical barriers to the EU market, Vietnam should establish a national system of accreditation when recognition and considering protection of geographical indications. In particular, in front of a difficult market like the EU, Vietnam should learn the experiences of European countries in building control systems for geographical indications, which can further improve conditions in export value into this vast market.