Saigon Co.op launches organic brand

HCM City (VNA) - Saigon Co.op on May 8 unveiled the Co.op Organic brand and introduced four groups of organic products.

It also signed an agreement with Vinamit JSC and Germany’s Binca Group to develop its organic product chain.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Diep Dung, Chairman of Saigon Co.op, said safeguarding consumers’ health and ensuring hygiene and food safety are Saigon Co.op’s top priorities.

So it does lots of research and seeks collaboration and investment opportunities in the organic agriculture sector to bring customers shopping at its retail stores the best value, he said.

Its investment in organic farming has helped reduce intermediary costs to ensure the best prices for consumers, he said.

Saigon Co.op also attaches special importance to making products without hurting the environment, and thus invests in organic projects, he said.

The company has invested in a 300ha organic farm in Ca Mau province to produce agricultural products that have received organic certification from the USDA, JAS of Japan, the EU, and Naturland, he said.

From May 8 Co.op Organic brand products meeting US and EU organic standards will be sold at seven supermarkets in HCM City –Co.opmart on Ly Thuong Kiet, Cong Quynh, Dinh Tien Hoang, Nguyen Kiem, Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Phu My Hung and Co.opXtra inside Sc VivoCity.

The four groups of products are jasmine and Japonica rice; cucumber, squash, tomato; choy sum, mustard green, water spinach; basa fish fillet and black tiger shrimp.

After launching the Co.op Organic label, Saigon Co.op will continue to expand its list of both food and non-food organic products, and seek to become a leader of the production-processing-distribution- consumption chain of organic products in both the Vietnam and export markets, he said.

Demand for organic farm produce has increased significantly both in Vietnam and globally, and this offers good prospects for businesses investing in the field, he said.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam hailed the efforts made by Saigon Co.op to produce organic farm produce.

The Vietnamese organic market is becoming increasingly dynamic, attracting many domestic and foreign businesses.

The area under organic farming had expanded 3.6-fold since 2010 to 76,000ha in 2015, he said.

His ministry would soon have in place policies, mechanisms and a national standards system to make it easy for businesses and farmers to enter organic farming, he said.-VNA