A An rice conquers the Japanese market

The A An rice of Tan Long Group was officially on Japanese supermarket shelves at the end of June 2022.

Conquer the Japanese market

On June 30, in Tokyo, Japan, under the witness of the Embassy of Japan, Tan Long Group, Kiraboshi Bank Japan (business connection unit), Sun-Tommy importer, and Spice House distributor held an event to launch A An rice product, officially selling the product in Japanese supermarket chains.

Previously, Tan Long Group (owner of the A An rice brand) successfully exported a shipment of ST25 rice bearing the A An brand name to Japan after passing an extremely rigorous testing process with over 450 targets. This is also the first time a domestic rice brand has been successfully exported to an extremely difficult market like Japan. This is also the first time a domestic rice brand has been successfully exported to an extremely challenging market like Japan. The event is a great pride not only for A An rice brand but also for Vietnamese agriculture. It raises the level of Vietnam's specialty rice, contributes to deep integration into the global agricultural product chain, improves value, and meets the trend of sustainable agricultural development.

In particular, the A An rice launch event in the Japanese market is also an important milestone towards the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan in 2023. This is an opportunity to further promote the relationship between the two countries, enabling the people of the two countries to understand each other better.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Nguyen Chanh Trung, Deputy General Director of Tan Long Group said: “Tan Long has production experience and is the leading rice exporter in Vietnam, it is currently exporting rice to 20 countries around the world. The successful export of A An rice to the Japanese market is the initial achievement in bringing the A An rice brand to the world. In the coming time, Tan Long will continue to promote the export of other key rice product lines such as ST24, ST24 Organic, and Japonica to Japan. This helps the Japanese, and the Asian community, especially the Vietnamese expatriates in Japan, to be able to access and use high-quality, specialty rice products from Vietnam. After Japan, Tan Long will continue to look for opportunities in other potential big markets such as the US or EU,…”

Aspiration to elevate the national agricultural brand

As a multi-industry agribusiness corporation that started to deeply participate in the rice production and distribution chain in 2010, Tan Long not only aims to develop the domestic market but also considers building a global Vietnamese rice brand as its mission.

To have enough clean raw materials, Tan Long determined to cooperate with Cooperatives to organize "Large Field - Happy Field". Specifically, A An constructs a closed farming and production management process "from the field to the dining table" by guaranteeing offtake for large sample fields. Tan Long uses the purebred rice of engineer Ho Quang Cua, a leading expert in agriculture and the "father" of the world's best rice ST25 as well as the world's leading rice varieties such as ST24, and Japonica… Tan Long strictly controls residues of pesticides and chemical fertilizers; not allowing genetically modified rice varieties, no pesticide residues, no colorings, odors, preservatives, or bleaching. Many organic rice products are grown according to strict organic standards of USDA, JAS, and EU.

Currently, Tan Long Group has 5 operating rice factories, with a total area of 470,000m2, a drying capacity of more than 4,000 tons/day, and a total capacity of 400,000 tons. The factories are located at convenient locations for transportation or in the trade zones of the major rice-growing provinces of the Mekong Delta such as Dong Thap, An Giang, Can Tho, and Kien Giang. The factories fully received important certifications on food safety and do not contain banned substances according to international standards, such as BRC, HALAL, HACCP, and ISO 22000:2018.

In particular, the inauguration of the first phase of Hanh Phuc Rice Factory, the largest rice factory in Asia today, was attended by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc. It marked a new major milestone for Tan Long on the way of creating clean rice products to conquer the international market.

Tan Long also became the largest producer and exporter of Japonica rice in Asia in the 2017-2019 period.

About A An rice brand

Launched in July 2019, A An rice brand has conquered domestic consumers with a series of prestigious awards. Currently, A An rice has been distributed at more than 25,000 points of sale nationwide, and the total annual average domestic consumption is nearly 400,000 tons. A An rice distribution channel will increase to 100,000 points of sale by the end of 2025, and continue to expand to 200,000 points of sale by 2030, corresponding to the plan to produce and consume 1 million tons of high-quality rice.