OCOP products from local specialties to international supermarket shelves

Vietnam's OCOP products have gradually affirmed their position in the market with domestic and foreign consumers.

Up to now, many Vietnamese OCOP products are on the shelves of foreign supermarkets through Vietnamese agricultural import-export corporations. This is an advantage for Vietnamese OCOP products to have more opportunities to develop further.

Ca Mau is a province with great potential and advantages for developing fisheries, agriculture and forestry. In recent years, taking advantage of the locality, Ca Mau province has created conditions and supported people and production facilities, cooperatives and enterprises to develop many OCOP products with characteristics and famous specialties of Ca Mau such as dried fish, salted crab, fried fish cake, pickled water lily, oyster crackers, rice, dried banana...

In particular, shrimp products such as shrimp crackers, dried shrimp, fried shrimp, shrimp floss, ecological dried shrimp, split shrimp, shelled dried shrimp...

According to Mr. Bui Van Chuong, Director of Tan Phat Loi Cooperative, Ca Mau, in recent times, Tan Phat Loi Cooperative has produced and brought to the market many specialty products typical of Ca Mau; in which, many products have achieved 3 OCOP stars at the provincial level such as oyster crackers, de-shelled dried shrimp, shrimp salt, and shrimp floss.

Since joining OCOP, the value of the cooperative's products has increased significantly compared to before. In the coming time, the cooperative will continue to innovate and improve product quality, design, packaging, production according to safety standards, and continue to participate in OCOP for the cooperative's strong products to gradually affirm its brand in the market.

A representative of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ca Mau province said that in order to develop key agricultural and aquatic products and OCOP products of the province in the coming time, sectors, localities, enterprises and OCOP entities need to proactively carry out market forecasting; enhance innovation, apply advanced technology, especially deep processing technology to improve quality and added value, develop products to meet the requirements of consumers and the market.

Organize many trade promotion activities; expand product display points in the province. Improve marketing capacity for OCOP subjects, enterprises, and cooperatives in introducing and promoting products; build a separate website to promote brands and products; focus on ensuring quality and food safety and hygiene. Thereby, contributing to improving the quality and position of key agricultural and aquatic products and OCOP products of Ca Mau province in the market.

In An Giang , after more than 5 years of implementation, the whole province has 582 OCOP products recognized in 102 commune-level administrative units, an average of 5.7 products/unit.

In 2023 and 2024 alone, there will be more than 150 new products meeting the standards each year. OCOP products are mainly concentrated in the food group (506 products), followed by handicrafts, beverages, medicinal herbs, ornamental plants and tourism services. Many products have affirmed their brands such as specialty fragrant rice, Phu Quoc fish sauce, palm molasses, canned baby corn, etc.

By 2025, the province will have 14 5-star products and 1 potential 5-star product. This is a testament to the efforts to improve quality, traceability, packaging and international standards.

To develop OCOP effectively, An Giang province has identified raw material areas as the key foundation. Many production-consumption linkage models have been formed such as Vinh Hoa durian, Cu Lao Gieng mango, Antesco baby corn, with a growing area of over 7,000 hectares... helping farmers stabilize output and improve product quality standards.

The expanded area creates conditions for the formation of large-scale production areas, connecting production-processing-trade. This is a stepping stone for OCOP products to have local characteristics, but still be competitive in the market - Mr. Le Huu Toan, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of An Giang province shared.

For OCOP product manufacturers, quality raw materials are a difficult problem to create delicious products. However, currently, manufacturers of these product lines are also more secure about raw materials.

Ms. Le Thi Be, owner of the 3-star OCOP product “Mắm cá tập tang” in An Bien commune, An Giang province, said that after the merger of An Giang and Kien Giang, she no longer worries about the lack of raw materials to make fish sauce like before. It is estimated that each year, Ms. Be produces 200-300kg of fish sauce, earning a profit of about 150 million VND.

Previously, the scarcity of natural fish resources made her family's fish sauce making business difficult. Now that there is more land to exploit freshwater fish, she plans to expand production.

Despite many positive results, the commercialization of OCOP products still faces problems. Some OCOP entities produce on a small scale, have unsystematic investment, unprofessional packaging, and weak market connections; products cannot be maintained after recognition.

Through research from OCOP entities, most of them face difficulties in capital investment for packaging, design, improving production processes, and building raw material areas.

Mr. Paule Le, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Central Retail Vietnam Group, shared that OCOP products are favored by foreign consumers, due to the regional characteristics and high quality of each product. Manufacturers only need to do a good job of packaging to make it eye-catching, then they will quickly bring Vietnamese OCOP products to foreign markets.

Source: VNA

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/kinh-te/202508/san-pham-ocop-tu-dac-san-dia-phuong-den-ke-sieu-thi-quoc-te-3321828/