Association run by the people, serving the people - Anji White Tea

by super7422 on 2012-03-03 09:33:56

China Anji White Tea Network information: From the early 1980s to the end of last century, which is nearly 20 years, was a big development stage for high-quality teas. Entering the new century, the new highlight of China's tea industry is the construction and operation of brands. In the "shortage" era of white tea, the supply could not meet the demand, and all the produced tea could be sold, even the "coarse branches and large leaves" were not worried about sales, so naturally, there was no need for brand consideration in all tea producing areas. Until 1985, when the white tea market first showed that production was greater than sales, local oversupply appeared, and each tea producing area and enterprise gradually began to pay attention to packaging, promotion, and other brand marketing means.

In the early development stage of Anji white tea, like many other places in Zhejiang, tea enterprises or farmers either had no strength or had no brand awareness. At this time, the government stepped out and became the main body of brand construction. By the end of the 1990s, the Anji County White Tea Development Leading Group was established, which formulated the first phase plan and preferential policies for the development of Anji white tea, encouraging farmers to develop white tea production. Meanwhile, it presided over the completion of the application work for the registration of the Anji white tea trademark. The government organized Anji white tea to participate in various high-quality tea selection activities, winning multiple gold awards. So far, more than a hundred awards of different sizes have been won. Now, as long as Anji white tea participates in the competition, the gold award seems inevitable. The government led the way, leading various manufacturers and major tea producers to participate in Anji white tea price expositions, going to Shanghai, Beijing, Jinan and other Anji white tea price distribution centers to hold recommendation meetings. With the publicity activities such as the white tea festival, white tea street, and naming of the white tea ancestor, the brand awareness of Anji white tea was quickly opened up, making a big noise in the Anji white tea market. Farmers also got real benefits from it. In 2004, Anji white tea increased the income of farmers in Anji by nearly a thousand yuan. In some villages, the per capita income of farmers from white tea alone was close to ten thousand yuan.

During the rise of the public brand of Anji white tea, the strength of white tea production enterprises within the county also grew. Many enterprises initially completed the original accumulation of assets, using the public brand to make their own enterprise brands also have a certain market awareness. Especially after 2000, the number of registered trademarks applied for under the name of enterprises showed geometric growth, among which there were some relatively well-known enterprise trademarks such as the "Yinye" brand of Yangjia Mountain Tea Garden, the "Lingzhishan" brand of Lingzhi Mountain Tea Garden, and the "Aoliaoa" brand of Dawu Mountain Tea Garden.

According to the current situation of the development of the Anji white tea brand, the Anji government began to change its role, transitioning from being the main body of brand construction to brand management and brand recommendation, mainly conducting public brand management, brand market promotion, and technical support for white tea production.

Since ancient times, white tea has always been marked by its place of origin as a brand mark, which is no different from general agricultural by-products. From this perspective, Anji white tea and Anji bamboo shoots are all in the original form of the brand. They use the special attributes of items from specific places as brand attributes, gradually gaining recognition and becoming representative commodities. In this sense, the public brand of Anji white tea can basically be regarded as something commonly owned by the locals, with the brand itself lacking exclusivity. Therefore, a few tea farmers and enterprises do not cherish the public brand and engage in behaviors that damage the brand's reputation.

Given this, Anji white tea has been using dual trademark management all along, namely the "Anji white tea" trademark + enterprise trademark, a mother trademark plus child trademark management model. Those who use the Anji white tea brand must be members of the Anji County White Tea Association, with unified Anji white tea packaging. That is, any packaging bearing the four words "Anji white tea" must have the original place proof trademark and the manufacturer's trademark, and must include the factory name, address, etc. This promotes everyone to take care of the public brand construction, while ensuring the quality of Anji white tea prices, improving quality, and facilitating management.

For medium and small tea farmers without their own brands, they are encouraged to join professional Anji white tea price cooperatives and uniformly use the cooperative brand. If the individual households cannot handle it properly, it will still harm the Anji white tea industry. The Huangpujiangyuan Cooperative, the largest Anji white tea price cooperative in Anji County, uses the registered trademark "Huangpujiangyuan" authorized by the government, with more than 350 tea farmers, 275 large and small Anji white tea price processing plants, driving 18,000 to 19,000 households. The tea garden is divided into 8 regions, and the tea fields within the region are numbered again, with responsibilities assigned to individuals, allowing members to better maintain the brand image when using the cooperative brand. Currently, the Huangpujiangyuan Cooperative has white tea trademarks "Yejiabai" and "Huangpujiangyuan", and plans to register another trademark to form a situation where there are trademarks for high, medium, and low-end products.

The Anji County Agriculture Bureau Economic Crop Station has always provided technical support for the development of Anji white tea, doing service and technical guidance before, during, and after the picking of Anji white tea, researching and promoting new technologies for the cultivation of Anji white tea. Since the mid-1990s, regular training on Anji white tea machinery, fertilizers, and picking has been conducted every year. Last year, the government used the network of the Unicom company to open a text message platform for tea farmers, notifying farmers of pest control, laws and regulations, and market information in the first instance. Strictly controlling the quality monitoring, this year, in the provincial random inspection of Anji white tea quality, all more than 20 inspected Anji white tea enterprises were qualified. Anji white tea also follows the green, harmless, and organic development direction. By 2004, there were already 14,000 mu of provincial non-polluting tea bases and 3,000 mu of organic tea certification areas. This year, it is estimated that about 20 enterprises will apply for non-polluting organic tea.