Why is competition weak?

(Baonghean) -Due to fierce competition in raw material areas, in order to sell more tea at higher prices without strict requirements on picking techniques, many tea growers have "over-harvested" the tea plants. After each painful picking, the tea plants grow more slowly, and some tea plants and tea beds even die if exposed to heat and severe drought.

Investing in developing Nghe An's industrial tea industry has been a correct policy of the province for many years, as shown in Resolution No. 17 of the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, term XVI.

Since then, with the efforts of the entire Agriculture and Rural Development sector, Nghe An Tea Investment and Development Company in particular and with the strong cooperation of local authorities, the province now has a raw tea area of ​​nearly 8,000 hectares, including 40 communes, 10 units and tea-growing enterprises in Thanh Chuong, Anh Son and Con Cuong districts. Of the above tea area, 6,000 hectares of commercial tea have been harvested annually, from 45 to 50 thousand tons of fresh tea buds have been harvested, about 10 thousand tons of various types of tea have been processed, 6 to 7 thousand tons of tea have been exported to international markets each year, earning over 7 million USD for the province.

The current industrial tea area in the province is not much compared to its potential. Nghe An has good tea growing areas of up to tens of hectares, stretching from Thanh Chuong to Ky Son. This is a red-yellow feralit land suitable for high-quality tea trees. However, the biggest problem with industrial tea trees in Nghe An today is not the large or small area but the low quality of tea. Therefore, the economic efficiency of Nghe An tea is still lower than that of many other localities such as Thai Nguyen, Phu Tho, Tuyen Quang, Lai Chau, Bao Loc (Lam Dong).

Tea quality is determined by factors such as: tea variety, growing soil, intensive investment regime, harvesting techniques, and processing technology. In which, tea variety, growing soil, harvesting techniques, and processing technology play a decisive role in the quality of good or bad tea.

Tea material area of ​​Hung Son Tea Enterprise - Anh Son
Photo: Chau Lan

The most popular tea varieties currently being grown are LDP1 and LDP2, accounting for over 90% of the total tea growing area of ​​the province. This is a tea variety originating from India with high yield, good quality, drought resistance, very suitable for the weather, climate and soil of Vietnam in general, Nghe An in particular, and is also the tea variety produced for export by the Tea Company.

LDP1 and LDP2 tea varieties always give higher yields than old tea varieties in Nghe An by 10-15%. After 2 years of planting, they can be harvested, after 6-7 years of planting, the tea yield can be up to 21-22 tons of fresh buds/ha.

Regarding tea growing land, it can be said that the land currently growing industrial tea in Nghe An is the hilly land stretching from Thanh Chuong to Ky Son. This land is a type of red-yellow feralit soil rich in alumina, very suitable for tea plants to develop both in productivity and quality. Gay tea is famous for its delicious aroma and reputation throughout the region thanks to being grown on this type of soil.

Regarding the harvesting technique according to the tea industry's regulations, to ensure the quality of delicious tea, only 1 bud and 2 leaves (1 tea bud with 2 leaves next to each other below the tea bud) are allowed to be picked. In the past, tea was picked by hand. Nowadays, tea is picked by machine, which is fast, strong and reduces a lot of labor in the harvesting process.

According to Mr. Dinh Van Hiep - Head of Agricultural Technical Planning Department of Nghe An Tea Investment and Development Company, the productivity of tea picking by machine reaches 8,000 - 10,000 kg of fresh tea buds/1 working day, 16 - 20 times higher than manual picking.

According to Mr. Dinh Van Hiep and the directors of tea factories in Thanh Chuong and Anh Son areas, picking tea by machine is good, a technical advancement that needs to be widely applied in all current raw tea growing areas in our province, if picked according to the correct technical process.

Regarding the current tea processing technology of the tea industry, it can be said that it is quite modern since investing billions of dong in purchasing machinery and production lines according to new technology to meet the requirements of high-class tea exported to the international market. These are CTC black teas, including the following varieties: BOP, BP1, BF1, PB. Otherdox black teas, including the following varieties: OP, FBOP, PPS, BSP, DUST. Green teas have the following varieties: GrateA, GrateB, GrateB2, Grate Broken and Grate Dust.

All of the above tea products have been exported by Nghe An Tea Investment and Development Company to markets such as: UK, Germany, Russia, USA, Japan, China, Taiwan, Pakistan...

On average, each year, over 6,000 tons of various types of tea are exported, earning over 7 million USD. With such an export volume of tea, the amount of money should be 10-12% higher than the above value. But all of this is because of the quality of Nghe An tea compared to other companies. Tea of ​​the same type but of higher quality is accepted by customers at a higher price. The problem is why is the quality of Nghe An industrial tea poor? As mentioned above, it is mainly due to poor harvesting techniques. So what is the reason that the harvesting techniques are not guaranteed according to the tea industry's instructions?

The products of the tea raw material area are currently being divided into five or seven parts, competing for each other in buying and selling. In the tea raw material area from Thanh Chuong to Con Cuong, there are up to 63 private establishments that buy and collect tea to process manually with a capacity of 5 - 10 tons/day, most of which are concentrated in Thanh Chuong district, accounting for 50/63 establishments. The tea products processed by these establishments are in the form of raw tea to be sold to other factories in the country for reprocessing and reselling to some traders to sell to China.

In addition to 63 private establishments, in Thanh Chuong there are also 3 limited liability companies that buy and process tea with quite large capacity, namely: Cuong Thinh Limited Liability Company located in Thanh Mai commune, Rong Vang Limited Liability Company located in Thanh Duc commune and Truong Thinh Limited Liability Company located in Thanh Thinh commune. All 3 companies have been granted business licenses by the Department of Planning and Investment. All companies are equipped with green tea and CTC tea processing machines with a capacity of 12 tons/day. Anh Son district alone has a newly developed tea area of ​​nearly 500 hectares in Hung Son commune, invested in building this tea area by Nghe An Tea Investment and Development Company in coordination with the People's Committee of Anh Son district and the People's Committee of Hung Son commune.

Right on this land, Dong Lam Tea Processing Enterprise appeared, licensed by the Department of Planning and Investment, and this enterprise has tea processing machines with a capacity of 12-18 tons/day. In addition to Dong Lam Enterprise, there is also Nguyen Trong Hung private tea processing facility licensed by the People's Committee of Anh Son district.

Thus, the current industrial tea material areas in Thanh Chuong, Anh Son and Con Cuong are competing to buy and sell tea materials to serve the tea processing factories of many companies and the manual tea processing establishments of more than 60 individuals who regularly operate.

Not only that, the tea prices of Truong Thinh, Cuong Thinh, Rong Vang companies and dozens of private tea processing establishments always buy 2 to 3 times higher than the purchase price of Nghe An Tea Investment and Development Company. In order to sell more tea at higher prices without strict requirements on picking techniques, many tea growers have harvested "overhand" regardless of picking techniques, as long as there is a lot of tea to sell... leading to the quality of tea products not being competitive, only being used as raw materials for other companies to reprocess.

Doan Tri Tue