Positioning Lai Chau tea

From the centuries-old shan tuyet tea trees on the Hoang Lien Son mountain range to the sprawling material areas in Tan Uyen, Binh Lu, and Sin Ho, tea has become one of the key agricultural commodities of Lai Chau. After more than half a century of development, the local tea industry now stands before a major opportunity to shift from growth in output to growth in value, building a brand and reaching markets with high quality requirements.

Lai Chau is blessed by nature with high mountain terrain, a cool climate year-round, and a diverse ecosystem. The province is home to seven of Vietnam's ten highest peaks, creating distinctive microclimates that are highly suitable for tea cultivation.

It is no coincidence that tea has been identified as one of the province's key industrial crops. Elevations ranging from 900 to over 2,500 meters above sea level, combined with mineral-rich soil and large day-night temperature differences, help tea buds accumulate aroma and active compounds at levels far higher than in many other tea-growing regions.

Lai Chau's most outstanding advantage lies in its abundance of ancient Shan Tuyet tea trees. The province currently has more than 17,000 ancient tea trees distributed across the communes of Binh Lu, Khun Ha, Giang Ma, Ta Leng, Mo Si San, Si Lo Lau, and Xa De Phin. Many of these trees are hundreds, even thousands, of years old, reaching several dozen meters in height, with trunks so large that two people cannot wrap their arms around them.

This is not only a valuable genetic resource but also the foundation for creating specialty tea lines bearing the distinctive imprint of Lai Chau's highlands.

While the ancient tea trees create the region's identity, the commercial tea plantations are serving as a driver of economic development. After Lai Chau province was re-established in 2004, the locality identified tea as a strategic crop and implemented numerous projects to develop concentrated material areas.

From traditional shan tea areas, the province has gradually introduced high-quality varieties such as Kim Tuyen, PH8, and improved shan tuyet, laying the foundation for a shift from small-scale production to large-scale commodity production.

To date, the province has more than 10,500 hectares of tea, of which more than 8,000 hectares are in commercial production. The largest concentrated tea growing area is in Tan Uyen commune, with more than 3,600 hectares, followed by Binh Lu with nearly 2,400 hectares, along with important production areas in Sin Ho, Phong Tho, and the area of the former Lai Chau city.

Each year, the material areas supply about 60,000 tons of fresh tea buds to the processing plant system. From this raw material, Lai Chau produces about 12,500 tons of finished tea, including green tea, black tea, and oolong tea. Notably, exports account for nearly the entire output, at about 12,440 tons per year.

According to Truong Thi Nhan, Director of the Lai Chau Sub-Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, in recent years the province has issued a range of mechanisms and policies to support the development of concentrated tea areas, covering seed varieties, fertilizer, land clearing, soil preparation, and the transfer of production techniques. Outreach efforts to encourage farmers to convert low-efficiency crops to tea have been carried out in a coordinated manner, helping to form concentrated commodity production areas.

Alongside this, technical training programs and guidance on production in accordance with VietGAP, Rainforest Alliance (RA), and organic standards have been widely implemented to change farmers' cultivation practices. The sector has also regularly inspected seed quality and guided localities in adhering to safe production processes, thereby gradually improving tea quality.

Even so, behind the growth figures, a number of concerns remain. Most of the tea currently exported is still in raw or semi-processed form, with prices typically only 2 to 3 USD per kilogram. By contrast, if processed further and sold as specialty tea, gift tea, or premium products, the value could increase many times over.

The gap between the value of raw materials and that of the final product indicates that the development potential of Lai Chau's tea industry remains very large. In recent years, a number of businesses have begun investing in the premium segment. Product lines such as Tam Duong Sencha, Oriental Beauty (Dong Phuong My Nhan), Tan Uyen Shan Tuyet, Mo Si San Shan Yellow Tea, and premium oolong are gradually gaining a foothold in the market.

Notably, Oriental Beauty tea is produced through a special process that involves the natural presence of green leafhoppers, resulting in a distinctive honey aroma. Meanwhile, Mo Si San Shan Yellow Tea is processed from ancient tea trees growing at elevations above 2,000 meters, carrying a distinctive flavor of mountain fruit and herbs.

To date, the province has 27 tea products certified at three stars or higher under the OCOP program (One Commune One Product). The Tan Uyen and Tam Duong tea trademarks have been registered for protection, helping to enhance the reputation and competitiveness of these products in the market.

According to Hoang Vinh Long, Chairman of the Vietnam Tea Association, Lai Chau is one of the localities with the greatest tea development potential in the country thanks to its large populations of ancient shan tuyet tea trees. To effectively capitalize on this advantage, the locality needs to plan concentrated material areas linked with the conservation of ancient tea trees, while also combining this with the development of ecological and experiential tourism.

This is also a suitable direction given that the locality is currently implementing a two-tier local government model. The formation of new, larger communes will create favorable conditions for planning concentrated production areas, attracting business investment, and building sustainable linkage chains.

Under the resolution on developing commodity agriculture and medicinal materials toward a green economy for the 2026-2030 period, Lai Chau has set a target of investing in intensive cultivation and quality improvement on more than 10,000 hectares of tea, of which about 2,500 hectares will be produced under green and organic methods. The province is also aiming to issue growing area codes for all concentrated production areas in order to meet the traceability requirements of export markets.

The most important orientation for Lai Chau in the coming period is to standardize its tea plantations, expand production areas under safety standards, strengthen linkages between businesses and farmers, and promote deep processing. This will be the foundation for raising added value, building the Lai Chau tea brand, and gradually participating more deeply in supply chains serving export markets.