On the 23th of April, the Sub-department of Rural Development (the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province) held a ceremony to launch the brand of Ba Ria - Vung Tau pepper. Mr Cao Xuan Tieu, deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, Mr. Le Xuan Thao, Chairman of Invenco Intellectual Property Co., Ltd and Ms. Truong Thi Tuyet Mai - representative of the Southern Branch of the National Office of Intellectual Property participated in the event.

From March 2013 to October 2014, the Sub-department of Rural Development of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province had coordinated with Invenco Intellectual Property Co., Ltd to implement a project on “building and protecting BR-VT pepper brand (the first phase) and establish geographic indicators for Ba Ria - Vung Tau pepper (the second phase)”. After a period of implementation, the “Ba Ria Vung Tau pepper” brand had been certified. The purpose of this certification is to ensure quality control, promote trade, increase efficiency of quality control activities and augment the product’s economic value.

According to Mr. Le Xuan Thao, Chairman of Invenco Intellectual Property Co., Ltd, the certification project for BR-VT pepper was implemented on schedule, contributing to the increase in competitiveness of the product and the application of technological advance in pepper production in order to reach higher efficiency and quality. The project encouraged organizations and individuals to establish producer groups and to build internal quality control management systems.

Mr. Thao also suggest that "In order to manage, consider  and develop  the brand effectively  after certification, the competent authority should consider authorizing the brand management  for the BR-VT Pepper Association.

BR-VT province is among the biggest pepper producers and exporters of the country. BR-VT white pepper is also well-known by consumers and experts as BR-VT has been processing white pepper for a few decades by traditional methods without using any chemicals. The finished product has high density of 570-600g/l, with some reach density of 620g/l. Moreover, BR-VT pepper has good properties due to favourable geographic and climate conditions of BR-VT province and has good quality due to the quality control in pepper production. Most of pepper plants grow on living pillars and feed on organic fertilizers and fertilizers made from fish by-product, then have distinctive flavor and quality.

As known, BR-VT province was chosen to grow pepper by the French about 150 years ago among other places such as Ha Tien, Thu Dau Mot. According to their evaluation, BR-VT’s basaltic soil gives favourable conditions for pepper production.

Currently, the pepper production of BR - VT spans over an area of about 9047 ha, yield about 2 tonnes/1 ha, with production of more than 14,200 tons a year which concentrated in Tan Thanh, Chau Duc and Xuyen Moc districts.

According to the Sub-department of Rural Development of BR-VT province, beside pepper, three other local products also had brands certified, including the “nhan xuong com vang” (longan berries), sugar-apple and Ba Ria salt.