Fair trade certification would give Vietnamese exporters of tea, coffee, cacao, spices and handicrafts a huge advantage in expanding their market, but enterprises that qualify are far too few, experts say.
The lack of a national policy on fair trade development meant that such practices were still sporadic and disjointed with very weak links between sellers and buyers, and even between fair trade firms, Nguyen Thi Hong Minh, a lecturer at the National Economics University, said at a workshop held in Ha Noi last week.
Other experts noted that there were just five enterprises and production facilities in handicrafts that had received the Fair Trade certification, while the coffee industry had 11 units and the tea industry, two units. There were no firms or facilities in the cocoa and spices industries that qualify for the special certification.
Awareness of fair trade practices was different in each industry, Minh said.
A recent study found that 80 per cent of enterprises in the coffee industry were aware of free trade certification, 75 per cent in the handicraft industry, 56 per cent in the cacao industry, 54 per cent in spices, and 27 per cent in the tea industry.
Demand for fair trade products in the domestic market was also very low, with just 24 per cent of consumers aware of the certificate, Minh said.
