Vietnamese Cinnamon - From Dominance to Development Lessons for the Herbal Medicine Industry

Vietnam is the world's largest cinnamon exporter, with export revenue reaching over $292 million in 2022. The country mainly imports cinnamon from Indonesia and China, while the main export markets are India, the United States, Bangladesh, Brazil and Indonesia.

Cinnamon is grown mainly in the mountainous provinces of the North and North Central regions such as Yen Bai, Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa - Nghe An and Quang Nam - Quang Ngai. Cinnamon trees have many values in life such as spices, flavorings, medicines, animal feed, fertilizers, ...

However, Vietnam's cinnamon export industry still has some limitations such as lack of a well-structured development plan, unstable output, and lack of strong brands. To overcome these limitations, it is necessary to promote product research and development, conserve rare varieties, train human resources, link businesses, build brands and develop export markets.

In addition, Vietnam also needs to diversify cinnamon products such as cinnamon essential oil, cinnamon powder, cinnamon medicines ... to increase export value.

Vietnam is favored by nature to bestow a rich and diverse source of medicinal herbs, with many rare species. However,this great potential has not been effectively exploited, and export turnover is still modest. The main reason lies in the lack of a well-structured plan, leading to spontaneous, fragmented production, lack of specific output, leading to abandonment due to product backlog.

To turn potential into reality, experts recommend focusing on solving 5 core problem groups, including:

• Research and development
• Human resources
• Linkages and markets
• Brand
• Logistics services

Besides, it is necessary to plan large raw material areas to ensure abundant output to meet export demand. Successfully resolving the above issues will create a strong lever, helping Vietnam's pharmaceutical industry breakthrough, affirm its position on the international market, contribute to increasing export turnover, and promote socio-economic development.