The demand for organic food in two major markets, the EU and the US, is entering a new growth cycle with stringent requirements. To penetrate deeply into these markets, cooperatives and enterprises are forced to transition from raw exports to controlling digital technical standards and developing sustainable brands.

Following a volatile period during 2022–2023 due to global inflationary pressures, the organic food markets in the EU and the US have shown distinct signs of recovery throughout 2024–2025.

The "raw material trap" paradox

According to the latest economic reports, certified organic product revenues in the US hit a record 71.6 billion USD, a 5.2% increase over the previous year and more than double the general growth rate of the total food market (2.5%).

In Europe, the market scale reached approximately 136.4 billion EUR, in which Germany is the largest consuming nation with 17.0 billion EUR, followed by France (12.2 billion EUR) and Italy (5.2 billion EUR).

The global organic food market is projected to surpass the 600 billion USD milestone by 2033.

This boom opens up a golden opportunity for Vietnam. At a recent workshop on organic agriculture, Dr. Tran Van An, Chairman of Mekong Herb Corp, stated that by positioning in the high-quality segment and proactively adapting to advanced consumer trends like "clean eating - clean drinking - healthy living," his unit successfully introduced organic medicinal products, herbal teas, and spices into demanding retail chains in the EU and the US.

Notably, Mekong Herb Corp brought deeply processed organic products to display directly on specialized e-commerce platforms serving consumers in the European region.

Within the collective economic sector, quite a few cooperatives have also successfully exported goods to the EU and US markets. For instance, the Bich Thao Coffee Cooperative (Son La) focuses on exporting Arabica coffee and deeply processed coffee to the US; the Ea Tu Fairtrade Agricultural Cooperative (Dak Lak) possesses coffee achieving Fairtrade/sustainable cultivation certifications, facilitating smooth exports and entering US distribution systems.

The success of Mekong Herb Corp or cooperatives like Bich Thao and Ea Tu proves that Vietnamese agricultural products can entirely step into the high-value-added product group if they solve the equation of standardizing growing areas and mastering deep processing technologies.

However, looking at the overall picture, the number of cooperatives and enterprises capable of achieving this remains limited. According to the Vietnam Organic Agriculture Association (VOAA), although the export potential of Vietnam's strategic commodities like organic cashews, pepper, coffee, and fruits is immense, the majority of exports remain trapped in the raw material trap.

To date, most of Vietnam's organic agricultural products are still exported in raw or semi-finished forms for private labels in Europe. Vietnamese enterprises and cooperatives almost completely lack brand stories regarding sustainability, social responsibility, and ecosystem protection to penetrate high-value-added segments.

By accepting the position of selling raw goods, the profit margins of domestic cooperatives and enterprises are squeezed, while pushing farmers and cooperatives into a vulnerable stance against global market price fluctuations.

A "matrix" of new standards

Entering the 2026 phase, legal standards and consumer preferences in the EU and the US no longer stop at the concept of "chemical-free cultivation." A cascade of new technical and trade barriers is being established, demanding a comprehensive transition from governance mindsets to technical processes at cooperatives and enterprises.

Ms. Dang Thi Bich Huong, Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Organic Agriculture Association (VOAA), noted that although the core legal framework for organic agriculture in the EU maintains stability, up to 9 secondary documents were approved in 2025 to reinforce and fine-tune technical standards.

Most notable is the trend of “Redefining Organic.” European consumers are no longer satisfied with a simple "Bio" logo on the packaging. They demand that products integrate values such as microbiome health, minimalist clean labels, regenerative agriculture for soil restoration, and particularly the pressure from the "Bio-Regio" (organic combined with local) slogan to minimize the carbon footprint in transport.

It does not stop there; the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) will officially apply to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and cooperatives on June 30, 2027 (and at the end of 2026 for large enterprises). Running parallel is the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), forcing EU importers to conduct real-time environmental and human rights risk diligence across the entire supply chain.

In the US market specifically, ethical business certifications like Fair for Life or the SMETA labor audit standard have become prerequisites for onboarding documentation.

Faced with these highly rigorous technical barriers, Vietnamese organic agricultural cooperatives are exposing major gaps in both financial and technological capacities.

The Director of the Sau Nhung Agricultural, Production, and Trade Cooperative (Quang Ngai), Mr. Nguyen Tri Sau, stated that when shipping goods to certain European countries, partners like the Rewe and Edeka supermarket systems do not accept hand-written log records. They require the cooperative to digitalize the entire growing area, providing GPS coordinate positioning data down to each member household to prove that the product is not cultivated on land sourced from deforestation, while demanding chain data integration into blockchain systems or transparency platforms.

Particularly, for quite a few cooperative members practicing organic production today, paying for annual re-certification costs, digitalizing processes, and investing in packaging made of easily destructible materials presents a heavy financial burden.

Ms. Vu Thi Le Thuy, Director of the 3T Farm Cooperative (Phu Tho), stated that switching to biodegradable bio-packaging capable of recycling usually commands prices multiple times higher than conventional nylon bags.

More importantly, transitioning packaging is not merely shifting from nylon bags to biodegradable bio-bags; the EU market also requires tracing the materials, possessing bio-packaging certifications, waste classification labels, and so on. This further escalates costs for cooperatives and enterprises.

In addition, the challenge of ensuring uniform supply capacities in medium and large quantities as committed to foreign partners makes cooperatives highly prone to being eliminated from this export game.

To resolve this equation, Dr. Tran Van An argued that there is no path other than for cooperatives and enterprises to invest synchronously in international organic certifications, traceability, modern packaging, and building clear brand strategies.

“Only in this way do Vietnam's local organic products stand a chance to appear in retail systems, e-commerce, and premium distribution networks globally,” Mr. An emphasized.

Meanwhile, Ms. Dang Thi Bich Huong recommended that to overcome the EU's "local organic" barrier and carbon footprint, cooperatives must apply precision farming (utilizing AI, circular irrigation systems) to prove the restoration of soil fertility and biodiversity. This is the sole path to increase product value and escape the low-price competition segment.

Source: VnBusiness