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Vietnamese businessmen attempt to sell 2 coffee brands to Chinese
Taking big losses, the owners of “Coffee Duc Lap Minh An” and “Coffee Duc Lap Dakmil” are planning to sell the two brands to the Chinese enterprise, which stole “Buon Ma Thuot coffee” brand, for 18 billion dong.
While Vietnamese relevant agencies have been making every effort to claim back the Vietnamese well-known brands appropriated by foreigners, the Minh An Agricultural Service Cooperative has recently sent a document to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, informing the plan on selling coffee brands.
The cooperative, located in Duc Minh Commune, Dak Mil district of Dak Nong province, said that it would sell the two coffee brands which have been protected in Vietnam, China and the US, if it cannot get support to access bank loans.
Selling brands to pay debts
Minh An Cooperative specializes in trading farm produce and processing coffee powder for export. Minh An’s products have been exported under the two trademarks “Coffee Duc Lap Minh An” and “Coffee Duc Lap Dakmil.”
Dak Mil district, which was named as Duc Lap district, is a key coffee production area of Dak Nong province. The Duc Lap coffee brand has become well known in the world. Therefore, the Dak Nong provincial authorities are moving ahead with the plan to build up a provincial coffee brand with the geographical indication of “Duc Lap.”
However, the authorities could not imagine before that the cooperative, which is now on the verge of bankruptcy, now has to think of selling the brands to foreign partners to get money to pay debts.
On March 7, Nguyen Van Toan, Chair of the Minh An Cooperative, sent a document to the local authorities, requesting to give support to help the cooperative to borrow five billion dong for working capital. Toan also said that if the cooperative does not get the support, the two brands would be sold for money.
On March 23, the Dak Nong provincial agriculture department answered that the proposal of Minh An does not come within the jurisdiction of the department. The department also clearly stipulated that it does not have relating responsibility in case Minh An sells the coffee brands to foreigners.
However, though denying the relating responsibility, the department has asked the cooperative not to sell the coffee trademarks to foreigners, and transfer the “Duc Lap” geographical indication to the local authorities to serve the plan on building a common coffee brand for Dak Nong province.
The department has also requested the Dak Mil district’s authorities not to recognize the transfer of the coffee brands.
How much do the trademarks cost?
In 2006-2009, Minh An Cooperative did business very well and obtained prestigious international and domestic awards. However, since 2010, the cooperative has bogged down in difficulties with heaped up debts.
At present, the cooperative still owes 18 billion dong to farmers and two enterprises. Besides, it has not paid the tax sum of 500 million dong.
Toan said the cooperative once met big difficulties and defaulted on bank loan interests on schedule. Once the situation got better, the cooperative came back to ask for other loans, but it was refused. As a result, the cooperative now does not have working capital.
Therefore, Toan said, selling the two coffee trademarks proves to be inevitable. He has affirmed that the representative of Chinese enterprise - Guangzhou Buon Ma Thuot Coffee – which stole Vietnamese Buon Ma Thuot coffee trademark – has contacted him to ask to buy the brands at 18 billion dong, which is equal to the debts the cooperative is incurring.
vietnamnet
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