Hanoi encourages businesses to develop processing industry

Under Hanoi’s strategy for agricultural and rural development to 2030, with a vision for 2045, the city identifies the development of the preservation and processing technologies as a fundamental and comprehensive solution to raise the value of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products.

As processing is considered an important step to add value to agricultural products, Hanoi has continued to encourage local businesses to develop their production models in line with its potential and advantages.

Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, Director of the Hanoi Agro-Forestry and Fisheries Quality Management Sub-Department, said over the years, the city has applied many mechanisms and policies to support organizations, enterprises, cooperatives, and farmers to increase investment in processing technology.

Currently, the city has more than 250 enterprises processing farm produce, along with thousands of cooperatives and households operating in pre-processing and preservation to meet the demand of local consumption.

Under Hanoi’s strategy for agricultural and rural development to 2030, with a vision for 2045, the city identifies the development of the preservation and processing technologies as a fundamental and comprehensive solution to raise the value of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products.

In addition, the Hanoi People's Committee also set a goal by 2030 to develop the processing industry with medium and advanced technology, as well as create highly competitive products that meet the requirements of domestic and export markets.

Unbalanced supply-demand

Although gaining notable developments in recent years, local experts said Hanoi's agricultural product processing industry is still not proportional to demand. The number of companies involved in this field remains small. 

Statistics from the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that more than 98% of the total number of farm produce processing establishments are currently small and medium-sized. Three main groups of processed products included meat (accounting for 42.6% of the total volume), vegetable (33.7%), and seafood (26.7%).

Equipment and machinery of farm processing establishments are mainly semi-automatic (accounting for 76.6% of the total number of establishments), followed by those using automatic line technology (14.7%) and manual processing technology (8.7%). 

Meanwhile, the city’s farm produces preservation system is still modest. The city has 113 cold storage warehouses and among them, there are only seven warehouses with a scale of nearly 30,000m2), the remaining 106 warehouses are small with an area of over 5,300m2.

The production of agricultural products and processed foods in Hanoi is about 1,000 tons per month, while the capital's consumption demand amounts to almost 5,200 tons.

Therefore, the city has connected with neighboring provinces and cities in the production, consumption, and commercial promotion of processed foods to fully meet the demand of the capital’s consumers. This is considered an untapped potential of the processing industry, according to the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.