The Rice Trader affirmed that up to now, only Ho Quang Tri private enterprise is the first and only Vietnamese enterprise officially approved to use the unique “World’s Best Rice” award logo. rights for marketing and business purposes. According to the Rice Trader, there are about 10 Vietnamese companies that use the ST25 rice brand to print on packages and promotional materials in the country and for export without asking for permission or consent from TRT. TRT officially warns Vietnamese piracy companies about the respect needed when using the brand logo “World’s Best Rice” in their rice packages being traded in the market. Photo: TL. Through this release, TRT officially warns Vietnamese companies that infringe on piracy about the necessary respect when using the brand symbol “World’s Best Rice” in their rice packages being traded. business in the market. This is an illegal use of intellectual property rights and provisions of the “World’s Best Rice” award logo. According to TRT, contest participants acknowledge that they have no right to use the contest trademarks without permission and that the winning country is also required to abide by the contest’s commitments. Without a proper resolution to this action, those company names will be made public because of their influence on the overall direction of the industry. “In addition, our organization takes this matter seriously that the country may even lose the right to participate in this competition in the following years. We firmly believe that value creators deserve it. deserves a reward and this has always been our intention throughout the process of organizing this contest,” said a representative of TRT.

Specialty… not expensive Introduced by an acquaintance, Tran Thi Mai (living in Phu Nhuan district, Ho Chi Minh City) bought a bag of pink rice and was told to cook it like normal rice, without pre-soaking like many other colored rice. When you bring the rice home, pour the water into it and it turns pink, when cooked, the rice is light red, medium flexible but still spongy, delicious, just like the white rice the family often eats. Colored rice on the market is quite diverse According to Dr. Dao Minh So, Head of the Plant Breeding Department at the Southern Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, the traditional colored rice varieties left by grandparents are often spongy, delicious, and the area is increasingly shrinking. due to the cultivation time of 5-6 months, only one crop can be grown per year, low yield. “The process of breeding improved rice varieties, suitable for new farming conditions, we accidentally created some colored rice varieties (pink, red, purple, black). Through nutritional analysis, especially especially iron, antioxidant content is much higher than white rice, so we really want this rice line to develop.To be honest, we can’t compare this colored rice with traditional colored rice because rice tradition has not been analyzed,” said Dr. So. Dr So said that the research process lasted for decades, by 2020 the red (or pink) rice variety named SR20 has been selected and is being tested on a large scale in many locations in the Southeast and the Mekong Delta. The authors cooperated with an enterprise in Ho Chi Minh City to process rice from the above material area to bring SR20 rice to the market, mainly consumed in Ho Chi Minh City. “Colored rice is always rich in micronutrients, high in anthocyanins antioxidants, but the market is mainly brown rice (whole rice), not everyone can eat it, before cooking. Therefore, when cooperating with DN, I asked them to process the milled form (with some bran remaining) with the goal of turning this colored rice into a daily consumer product like ordinary white rice but still retains most of the nutrients and antioxidants.Red rice with bran is more difficult to store, spoils quickly, but we overcome it by milling to where we can sell it, it is better to sell in small quantities rather than using preservatives. manage or fumigate” – Dr. So confided. The rice variety SR20 is cultivated for a short time (more than 3 months while traditional rice lasts for 5-6 months), has a good yield (5-7 tons/ha), has good resistance to pests and diseases, so the price is equivalent to many varieties. rice. Wider market According to a reporter’s survey, colored rice is sold mainly in the form of brown or milled to preserve nutrients, with the selling price ranging from 25,000 to 100,000 VND/kg. Colored rice brands sell at high prices mainly because of internationally certified organic rice; The rest average price is at 40,000 – 50,000 VND/kg. As one of the first agents to sell branded bags of rice in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Phan Thanh Hieu, Director of Phuong Nam Food Joint Stock Company, admitted that the consumption of colored rice is getting better and better. “If in 2015, the consumption of colored rice was only about 1 ton/month, now it’s about 5 tons/month. In addition to retail, we also wholesale to retail stores and sell to a number of units. processing with orders of several hundred kilograms Young people and office workers today are using colored rice more and more due to the application of a healthy diet to be healthier and more beautiful, not just a group of customers who have needs. In addition, now there are enterprises applying Japanese technology to process brown rice into pre-packaged rice, which is very convenient for busy young people who do not have time to cook, just need to heat up and eat immediately. “- Mr. Hieu shared. Consumers often have a stereotype that colored rice will be very dry and hard, but in fact, the colored rice that Phuong Nam Food Joint Stock Company is trading is soft and easy to eat. “This is rice from the rice variety of the author group Ho Quang Cua, who created the famous ST25 rice around the world. After the success of ST25 rice, it also created an effect for the consumption of other types of rice of the same author” – Mr. Hieu evaluated. Also just launching organic purple brown rice products for the first time to the market, Mr. Lam Anh Tu, Director of Hoa Nang Agricultural Products Co., Ltd (HCMC), said that the enterprise’s goal is to diversify products. “This is purple rice from the purple ST variety of the author group Ho Quang Cua, which is grown on the raw material of shrimp rice; it is an improved variety of colored rice, so the rice is soft, not difficult to eat as many people think. Moreover, brown rice is also very tasty. The whole bran shell should be safe during cultivation, otherwise residues of fertilizers will be left here. Therefore, the organic farming material area of ​​enterprises is an advantage,” said Mr. Tu. It is easy to confuse purple sticky rice with purple rice According to some bags trading enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City, the market for colored rice is mainly active in the domestic segment, with very little export. “The market is confused between purple rice and purple sticky rice (also known as sticky rice) due to the very similar appearance, especially with the product with the whole bran (processed brown) while the price of purple rice is high. much higher than purple sticky rice due to the different yield of the two varieties. Worryingly, purple rice has a low glycemic index and purple glutinous rice has a high glycemic index, so consumers need to be careful. The simplest way to distinguish is to break the rice grain in half, if the inside is opaque white like glutinous rice, it is purple rice, if it is white, it is purple rice “- a representative of a business revealed. According to physician Dinh Cong Bay, General Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Medicinal Association, it is always better to eat raw rice (whole bran or milled) than well-milled rice because it retains nutrients in the bran layer. However, when using this rice, consumers should pay attention to choose safe cultivated rice, organic rice because the bran layer on the outside is easy to be contaminated with chemical residues if farming is not good. For new varieties of rice crops, breeding units should publish the research process to create varieties as well as specific scientific evidences about the active ingredients in them for consumers to know and choose.

ST25 is the best Vietnamese rice variety in the world in 2019, researched and bred by engineer Ho Quang Cua and his colleagues. Around the story of Vietnam’s ST25 rice being registered for trademark protection by 4 US enterprises, the Intellectual Property Department (Ministry of Science and Technology) said: ST25 cannot be registered for trademark protection exclusively at Vietnam as well as the US for any individual or organization. ST25 is the best Vietnamese rice variety in the world in 2019, researched and bred by engineer Ho Quang Cua. By 2020, ST25 rice will continue to win the second prize in this delicious rice competition. Mr. Nguyen Van Bay, Deputy Director of the National Office of Intellectual Property said: the rice variety named ST25 has been granted the protection certificate No. 21.VN.2020 according to Decision No. 45 / QD-TT-VPBH dated March 6, 2020. Director of Department of Crop Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The holder of the certificate of protection is a private enterprise of Ho Quang Tri and the breeder of rice varieties is Mr. / Mrs. Ho Quang Cua, Tran Tan Phuong, Nguyen Thi Thu Huong. The new ST25 rice variety is a registered product, while ST25 rice is a product with a common name, produced from ST25 rice, so it is not protected in Vietnam as well as in the US. . Mr. Nguyen Van Bay, Deputy Director of Intellectual Property Department (IP) under the Ministry of Science and Technology According to the provisions of Article 186 of the Intellectual Property Law, the plant variety protection certificate holder has the right to use or allow others to exercise the following rights regarding propagating materials (or rice seeds) of the existing variety. Protected: Production, propagation or processing for the purpose of propagation; Offer; selling or carrying out other market access activities; export… As such, the group of authors can prohibit exploitation, production or propagation; processing for propagation; to offer or market this variety. But with rice products, protection cannot be granted because when the enterprise purchases paddy which is harvested from rice grown from ST25 seed to milling and selling rice to the market, of course the product must called ST25 rice. That is why there are so many varieties of rice advertised as ST25 rice on the market. Because it is the common name of a product, anyone dealing in this product (rice) must use the same name, so Point b, Clause 2, Article 74 of the Intellectual Property Law stipulates that the common name of the goods in any language that is widely used, often known, will be considered indistinguishable and will not be registered as a trademark. “Thus, the protection of the state is for the seed rice itself, not the rice – the post-harvest processed product. In this case, not anyone, not even the private enterprise Ho Quang Tri. can be protected exclusively with the ST25 mark for rice products “, said Mr. Nguyen Van Bay. In case many enterprises also put the ST25 rice product on the market, what is the distinguishing sign for consumers to know the commercial origin of the rice product they buy? Mr. Nguyen Van Bay said: Enterprises must bring ST25 rice products to the market under their own brands. That is why we can buy ST25 rice branded “Bao Minh” or ST25 rice from other businesses with different brands … Regarding the fact that there have been a number of businesses registering for ST25 trademarks in the US, the representative of the National Office of Intellectual Property said that all such applications are currently in the process of processing. According to the laws of other countries, including the US, the generic name of the product / service will not be protected as a trademark. For the United States, according to the US Patent and Trademark Application Examination guidelines (USPTO), the assessor will deny the trademark application for the cultivar name. “This can be clearly seen in USPTO’s intentional denial of November 20, 2020 to the mark of“ VIETNAM’S ST25 RICE, DAC SAN SOC TRANG ”according to the application form No. 90151727 filed on September 1, 2020. Company Transworld Foods, Inc (USA). Accordingly, ST25 is the common name of a plant variety (rice) and cannot be registered as a trademark under the provisions of section 1202.12 of the Trademark Appraisal Regulation ”, said Mr. Bay.

In 2019, ST25 rice won the world’s best rice award There is a “door” to reverse the situation but … As Traffic newspaper has stated, there are 5 enterprises in the US that have registered to protect the trademark of ST25 rice – the best rice in the world in Vietnam and are waiting for approval for exclusive certification. Trademark protection is understood that Vietnamese enterprises’ ST24, ST25 rice products, if they want to sell in the US market, must go through those 5 enterprises when they have successfully registered. At that time, they will take control of the entire distribution system of the market. If Vietnamese enterprises do not want to approve or sell them to the 5 above-mentioned enterprises, they must take a different name, not the name of ST24, ST25 rice. That is the risk of Vietnamese enterprises when they are first registered for trademark and intellectual property protection by foreign enterprises. Talking to the Traffic Newspaper’s reporter, Mr. Hoang Minh Chien, Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), said that at present, the protection of products abroad of Vietnamese enterprises (enterprises) is not high. Contrary to the agility of foreign firms. “The fact that Vietnamese rice ST24 and ST25 are protected by foreign enterprises in the US is also a wake-up call for Vietnamese enterprises when they want to target export markets,” said Chien. According to Chien, currently rice ST24, ST25 has registered copyright, intellectual property in Vietnam, has been protected in the Vietnamese market, no one can win this product in the Vietnamese market. But when exporting their products to any market, Vietnamese enterprises must also register for that product in that market. Vietnamese enterprises that want to have trademark protection in the foreign market need to do very methodically according to the general international regulations, just as the legal and legal regulations are clearly regulated like registration in Vietnam. The registration can also be used by a third party which is a service if you cannot read and understand foreign documents …. Moreover, businesses can completely contact the state management agency about the brand. to be able to advise more carefully. But first, consciousness has to be derived from them. Commenting the rice brand ST24 and ST25 “has not been lost in the US” because it is in the review time, the representative of the Trade Promotion Agency said that Mr. Cua could “turn the tide” if he promptly complained to In America, when Mr. Crab’s “trump card” is “the unit that owns the rice variety, takes the contest and has the prize”. … Complicated procedures, “huge” costs An intellectual property expert said that the story of Mr. Cua can stick to the “broken car trail” of Trung Nguyen coffee when the partner has registered for Trung Nguyen Coffee brand with the authorities. The US and the World Intellectual Protection Organization (WIPO) when Trung Nguyen Company has just negotiated and has never signed a contract with a partner to bring products to this market. This is considered the first “movement” of losing the brand name of a Vietnamese enterprise when it wants to do business abroad and takes 2 years of negotiation, Trung Nguyen can regain the Trung Nguyen Coffee brand in the US and also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this. After that, WIPO did not accept to protect Rice Field – Trung Nguyen’s partner. This company also stepped back and accepted as a distribution agent for Trung Nguyen Coffee in the US. Trung Nguyen then strongly registered for trademark protection in more than 60 countries and territories around the world. Lessons learned about the blood and bones are still there, existing the story of rice ST24, ST25. Therefore, according to this taste, Mr. Cua can save it, but it is not easy, because it needs to be done quickly and very expensive. Not to mention, the other businesses enjoy the priority right due to the advance payment, the proving process still takes a lot of time and effort. In particular, if you do not do it early, you will lose the opportunity to “demand” much more difficult, heavier than having to spend a “huge” amount of money to buy. With the experience of many companies that went ahead, this position warned: “Do not wait for fame and then protect, but take action right after forming ideas. In the era of open economy, everything is easy, including protection. Expenses are also becoming cheaper and cheaper, Vietnamese businesses also need to change their “fear of cost” mindset so that when it is too late, they cannot be saved.

Hamster is a “favorite” dish of many people, especially people in the West. In pubs, mice are processed into dishes such as grilled, fried, fried in leaves, … with prices from 80,000 to 120,000 VND / plate. Fried rats in a pub in Can Tho. (Photo: Tien Phong) Currently, many localities in the Mekong Delta are harvesting the Winter-Spring crop, causing the price of ham here to decrease compared to before the Lunar New Year. However, according to Tien Phong Newspaper, the price of hamster in the Mekong Delta is still high, equivalent to or higher than pork. Currently, type 1 hamster (6-7 animals / kg) has a price of 80,000 VND / kg, a hamster of type 2 is lower with 70,000 VND / kg, and the smallest type is 60,000 VND / kg. This price has decreased by about 20,000 VND compared to the time before Tet. At that time, the supply of mice was scarce, sometimes the price increased to 120,000 VND / kg. Vegetables fall back to Hanoi, 200 thousand / kg are still ‘sold out’ Vegetables in the forest or flowers in the forest are not too new to the people of the capital. However, this specialty forest vegetable is still very attractive every season, despite its extremely expensive price, which can be said to be the most expensive of all forest vegetables. Currently, the price of wild vegetables in Hanoi is up to 180,000 VND / kg, while the flower and vegetable price is 200,000 VND / kg, which is more expensive than American beef bacon. Compared to the price of industrial chicken, the price of this vegetable is 10 times more expensive. Compared to last year, this year vegetables are about 30,000-40,000 VND / kg more expensive. Lilies in the season, growers collect hundreds of millions Lilies are also known as lilies or lilies. This flower is known as “Queen of April” and every season, the trumpet shines on Hanoi’s street. Everyone takes advantage of buying packages like the plug. The trumpet is dubbed “the Queen of April” In the flower capital of Tay Tuu (Hanoi), farmers are rushing to harvest lilies. Every day, a household cuts thousands of flowers. Flowers can be cut wherever they are sold. Some households earn hundreds of million dong thanks to lilies. Compared with the price of flowers at the beginning of the season of 300,000-350,000 VND / 100 flowers, the price of lilies has decreased, in some places it is only 150,000-170,000 VND / 100 cluster flowers. White pear flowers damp, small traders pity to throw away Family & Social News newspaper, more than 1 month ago, hundreds of small businesses from Cao Bang, Lang Son frantically brought thousands of white pear flower branches (pears and tigers) to the capital for sale. However, this year, due to the epidemic effect of Covid-19, the number of flowers sold has decreased significantly compared to every year. Although the small traders have reduced the price of floor theater for each white pear branch, customers do not care. Therefore, a large amount of white pear flowers are damp, the small trader has to pityly throw it away with sugar. According to many small traders, the white pear flower brought from the northern mountainous provinces to the capital has not been so humid this year. The fact that the pear blossoms are damp has caused many small businesses to lose hundreds of millions of dong. Super giant plums imported from Australia cause fever Dinosaur plums imported from Australia (also known as dinosaur plums) are now being bought by many hunters. Compared with plums, this plum has 2-3 times the size and weight, every 6-7 fruits will reach 1 kg. When the fruit is ripe, it will give a beautiful red color, thick, hard flesh, sweet taste. Super giant plum (Photo: Dan Tri) Australian plum is currently priced from 180,000-220,000 VND / kg. Last year, at the end of the season, 1 kg of Australian plums cost 300,000 VND. The world’s most delicious rice ST25 is rampant counterfeiting As noted by Reporter Tien Phong, the rice market in Hanoi currently has dozens of types of ST25 rice offered by traders for prices from 28,000-40,000 VND / kg. Although the same brand ST 25, but all kinds of different models and packages. In addition to rice agents, social networks also appeared full of shops, shops, individuals who actively promote and sell “genuine” ST25 rice. After being named the world’s best rice, the ST25 rice was impersonated, counterfeiting rampant in the domestic market. According to Mr. Ho Quang Cua, the father of the ST25 rice brand, there are dozens of fake rice on the market, imitation of his brand. Hot season cooling products have strong discounts Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper reported that electronics centers in Ho Chi Minh City are implementing discount programs, giving gifts … to attract consumers to buy hot season cooling products. In which, air conditioner is the most preferential item with a discount from a few hundred to several million dong. Air-conditioner products attract customers (Photo: Lao Dong) In addition, electric fans, air-conditioning fans, and steam fans are also discounted by many electronics supermarkets up to 51% to stimulate demand. With the same season, the price is low, the pineapple is priced Recorded by PV Doanh and Tiep Thi in the largest growing place in Hanoi (Hiep Thuan commune, Phuc Tho district), this year, the season is good, but the revenue is not high. The price for ripening is reduced compared to every year, the wholesale price ranges from 7,000 to 28,000 VND / kg. Meanwhile, despite being heavily affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, the export via quota to the Chinese market is in trouble, but this year, farmers in Lao Cai have a good harvest but do not worry about devaluation. According to Dan Tri Newspaper, the commercial pineapple market of Lao Cai province is being consumed strongly with prices from 5,500-6,000 VND / kg. At this price, pineapple growers will have a relatively high profit compared to previous years. Durian off season, Tra Vinh dried coconut high price News / TTXVN newspaper said that in Tien Giang, durian is in reverse with the consumption price standing at a very high level, about 90,000 VND / kg. According to the agricultural sector of Tien Giang province, with an average yield of 20 tons / ha, each hectare of durian produces up to 1.8 billion VND production value. After subtracting production costs, farmers profit not less than 1 billion. Durian has high prices (Photo: News / TTXVN) Also in Tra Vinh, the price of desiccated coconuts for more than a week has risen “fever” from VND 75,000 / dozen being collected by agents at the garden for VND 85,000 / dozen. The price of desiccated coconuts increases, but the supply in the province is still insufficient. Besides, from the beginning of March until now, due to the harsh hot weather, the demand for fresh coconut has increased, pushing up the price of fresh coconut to 120,000 VND / dozen. The price of Da Lat artichoke fell sharply According to News / TTXVN, gardeners in Da Lat (Lam Dong) are starting to harvest the main artichoke crop with an average price of only about 50,000-60,000 VND / kg, much lower than previous months. . Recently, the prices of processed artichoke products fell sharply. Currently, the price of dried artichokes is only 180,000-200,000 VND / kg, fresh artichoke flowers are 50,000-60,000 VND / kg, previously from 300,000-400,000 VND / kg. The reason why Da Lat artichoke dropped sharply was mostly due to the poor consumption, the decrease of fresh artichoke products for export. Hanh Nguyen (Synthetic)