In Da Nang in central Vietnam, makers who sell agricultural produce and processed seafood not as "the raw material as is" but wrapped in a production-area story and gift packaging are increasing. What a Vietnamese agriculture-and-environment outlet reported was the on-the-ground moves: a veteran Nam O fish sauce maker grew gift products to about 30% of sales through investment in gift boxes, and a Hoi An food maker remade its bottled goods into teabags and portable snacks and earned OCOP 4 stars. For food players handling dried vegetables and OEM gifts in Japan, this becomes a case that breaks the assumption that "pricing is set by the raw material." Even with the same raw material, simply redesigning who, against what background, and how it is handed over changes the unit price. We read the specifics.
Gist of the originating news: makers who dress the raw material in "new clothes"
What was reported is a flow of processed-food makers in Da Nang and its surroundings redesigning agricultural and marine products as gifts for tourists and corporate buyers. At the center is the veteran Nam O fish sauce (nuoc mam) brand "Huong Lang Co." Its head, Bui Thanh Phu, invested in gift boxes depicting the village's scenery and traditional fish-sauce making, growing gift products to about 30% of total sales. His words, "today's customers want to take home the memory of Nam O and Da Nang," concisely capture the core of this strategy.
Another firm, "Me Mit Food" in Hoi An, led by Thai Thi Nhi, remade traditional bottled tea into teabags and a whole stick into a small, easy-to-carry bar. It earned OCOP 4 stars with a grain cereal using black sesame and lotus seeds and an herbal tea, "tho moc tra." "Vigift," a souvenir specialist led by Phan Thanh Ha, edits local processed goods into gift sets bundled by taste, story, and regionality and wholesales them to corporate and overseas trading partners. Tran Thi Thuy Huong of the tour company "Glamour Adventure" incorporates local processed goods into the souvenir packs of tours for European, American, and Australian customers.
Background: tourism recovery and "OCOP" propel production-area branding
There are two tailwinds behind this move happening in Da Nang now. One is the full recovery of tourism. Vietnam rolled out a tourism promotion program in 2025 too, advancing the capture of foreign visitors as national policy. As souvenir demand returns, the largest outlet for a production area's processed goods opens again. The other is the national framework of "OCOP (One Commune One Product)."
OCOP is a system that evaluates and certifies region-specific agricultural and marine processed goods and backs them as tourist souvenirs, scoring from 1 to 100 and rating from 3 stars (50–69 points) to 5 stars (90 points and above). Four stars corresponds to 70–89 points, meaning a level surpassing 3 stars in quality and marketability. As of July 2025, certified products of 3 stars and above nationwide numbered 17,068, with the top-tier 5 stars at just 126. In other words, 4 stars is the position of "can aim for nationwide distribution but still scarce," a title that lends persuasiveness as a gift. Huong Lang Co is also certified at Da Nang's OCOP 4 stars for its Nam O fish sauce, and this rating serves as the bridge from "tourist souvenir" to "giftable regional brand."
Data and comparison: what moved the unit price
Organizing the figures that can be verified in this case reveals that the source of value lies not in the "raw material" but in the "design."
| Maker | Material / raw material | What they did (redesign) | Result (verified) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hương Làng Cổ | Fish sauce from anchovy and sea salt | Invested in gift boxes depicting the village's story | Gift products to about 30% of sales |
| Mẹ Mít Food | Black-sesame and lotus-seed grain, herbal tea | Revamped bottle to teabag, whole stick to portable snack | OCOP 4 stars for two items |
| Vigift | Various local processed goods | Edited into gift sets bundled by taste, story, and regionality | Wholesaled to corporate and overseas trading partners |
What deserves attention is that Huong Lang Co's fish sauce is a traditional product that ferments only anchovy and sea salt for a long time in jars, with neither raw material nor method changed. Nam O's fish-sauce making, with about 400 years of history, is positioned as national intangible cultural heritage. The material was left as is; what changed was only the "box," the "story," and the "way of delivery." With that, gifts grew into a pillar accounting for 30% of sales. Me Mit Food too kept the core of the raw material's provenance and natural origin while changing only the form to one easy to carry and easy to give.
Local and industry reaction: makers, distribution, and tourism face the same direction
Paraphrasing the voices spoken locally, the three are each different but face the same place. On the maker side, Bui Thanh Phu speaks to the effect that "customers buy not just taste but memory," grasping the product as a device for taking home an experience. Me Mit Food makes clear the line of changing only the form without breaking the core of "clear provenance and natural origin." It is the idea of adding the convenience of gifting while keeping the trust of the contents guaranteed.
On the distribution side, Phan Thanh Ha of Vigift lists three conditions for a gift set to work: "delicious, quality, beautiful (ngon, chat luong, dep)." It is the on-the-ground sense that it sells only when not just taste and quality but the appearance as a gift are all in place. On the tourism side, Glamour Adventure positions processed goods as "cultural ambassadors of the region" handed to European, American, and Australian customers, grasping that tourism can be a bridge carrying local produce to international markets. Makers infuse the story, distribution edits, and tourism carries — this division of labor has begun to turn, and that is Da Nang now.
Implications for Japanese food players: keep the material, remake the "context"
Here is the main point. For Japanese makers handling dried vegetables and OEM gifts, the Da Nang case shows that "higher unit price" does not equal "premium raw material." The lessons can be organized into three.
First, There is a path to raise the unit price without changing the raw material Just as Huong Lang Co created 30% gifts without changing the contents of its fish sauce at all, for dried vegetables, simply re-bundling the production area, cultivation background, and the maker's face into a single story turns the same material into "something giftable." The land-context that Kyoto dried vegetables hold can, in itself, serve as story material.
Second, Remaking the form and unit Me Mit Food changing the bottle to teabags and the whole stick to individually portioned snacks means it redesigned the unit to fit the acts of giving, handing out, and carrying. For dried vegetables too, the large-bag commercial use and the gift-oriented small-portion assortment target completely different price ranges and sales floors, even with the same raw material. For OEM-gift inquiries, proposing the unit and packaging starting from "to whom and in what scene it is handed" lands more than explaining the quality of the contents.
Third, Use a third party's rating or certification as a "giftable title" Just as Vietnam's OCOP serves as a bridge from tourist souvenir to regional brand, in Japan too production-area certification and award history become a language of reassurance to hand the recipient in a gift scene. Rather than touting efficacy, weaving the fact of "from where and through what standards it passed" into the story is both safe and effective from a premiums-and-representations standpoint.
Ripple effects on industry and market: tourism x processed goods is the entry point to exports
The Da Nang structure shows that tourist souvenirs can be a run-up to international markets. The flow in which Glamour Adventure hands processed goods to European, American, and Australian customers and Vigift wholesales to overseas trading partners is an order in which what is first tried and evaluated by tourists then rides onto cross-border trade. That OCOP's 4 and 5 stars are designed as a position "able to aim for nationwide distribution and exports" also matches the state's intent of heading toward external demand using domestic tourism demand as a stepping stone.
For Japanese makers of dried vegetables and processed foods too, inbound souvenir demand can be, rather than mere retail, a "test-marketing venue" to have overseas buyers and partners abroad try the material and story. There is value in building, into the design from the start, a path in which a single box a tourist takes home leads to later continued orders and OEM inquiries.
Practical information and related links
Vietnam's production-area branding and processing-and-export moves differ by item. If you want to know more concretely about the idea of selling material as a story and the on-the-ground sense of processing and export, the following related articles are also a reference.
- A production area's effort to convey value through the "tree's story" of mangosteen
- Adding value to raw material, seen in cinnamon essential oil exports
- How to sell off surplus fruit — the outlet strategy of Vietnamese production areas
Conclusion: the next move is to "remake the story and unit of the same material"
What the Da Nang makers teach is that higher unit price begins not from a search for new raw material but from redesigning the context, form, and delivery of the material at hand. The actions dried-vegetable and OEM-gift staff can take right away narrow to three. (1) For an existing flagship product, pull the production area and maker's story into one sheet and draft one gift-oriented small-portion or assortment unit. (2) Design the packaging by working back from "to whom and in what scene it is handed," and for OEM inquiries propose from the gift scene rather than from material explanation. (3) Weave third-party facts such as production-area certification and award history into the story not as efficacy but as a "language of reassurance." In most materials, there is still room to lift the sales floor and price range a notch without changing the contents.
