Ha Noi (VNA) - Chung cake (glutinous rice cake) made at the Tranh Khuc craft village in Ha Noi’s Thanh Tri district will be trademarked next year, allowing residents of the village to establish an independent presence on the market.
Tranh Khuc village has been making chung cake for more than a hundred years, but due to a lack of trademark, residents of the village still have to “borrow” other famous brand names when selling their product.
“When selling our product to domestic supermarkets, we have to pay extra money for the chung cake made by residents of our village to carry the trademark of Uoc Le craft village, which registered for a trademark several years ago. We have to pay 10,000 VND (0.62 USD) for each cake, so for 1,000 cakes we have to pay one million VND (62.5 USD),” said Nguyen Van Thanh, head of Tranh Khuc craft village.
According to Thanh, some 10 out of 185 housesholds of the village earn their living making chung cake. During the Tet period, households who make the largest number of chung cake can make from 1,200-1,500 cakes, earning about one million VND (62,5 USD) each season.
Nguyen Dang Lai, an experienced chung cake maker, was recently asked by an enterprise in Hai Phong city to make 18,000 chung cakes. However, according to Lai, the number of chung cakes he makes for this contract will not be sold under the name of Thanh Khuc village.
The Van Khuc Agriculture Service Co-operative of Tranh Khuc submitted a trade mark registration to the National Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam in January of 2008.
“After the registration is completed, the village will have the trademark of Tranh Khuc Trade Village , and a sign bearing the image of a chung cake with our logo will be placed at the gate of the village,” said Dang Tien Le, president of the co-operative.
The co-operative, which will own the trademark, is now selecting qualified households to work for the co-operative, as well as co-ordinating with the local health care sector to check the hygenic condition of the households involved in making the product.
“Those selected have to be residents of the village, make their chung cake on-site, and sell a minimum of 2,000 cakes each year,” said Le.
According to the National Office of Intellectual Property, it will take nine months to process the trademark registration.
Le also added that the co-operative would soon institute codes regulating chung cake production. The co-operative will also ask for funding from the commune for workshop construction and investment for the wrapping and preservation processes. Chung cake made by the co-operative will be sold in supermarkets and big markets.
With the status of a legal entity, the co-operative would be able to sell its product without “borrowing” another name like before, said Le.
“I hope that after the co-operative completes the registration for its trademark we will sell more chung cake and our product will be more famous,” said Nguyen Thi Nguyen, 76, a resident of Tranh Khuc village.-Enditem
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