Vietnamese cuisine has a growing reputation internationally, and a visit to Vietnam will quickly reveal that food plays a very important role in the country’s identity and culture, as well as its economy. More than 80% of the population makes a living through some form of agriculture, and approximately 35% of household income in Vietnam is spent on food and beverages. As food is the most essential of necessities, and thus the first priority in household spending, this percentage tends to be high in developing countries, declining as incomes rise. In Vietnam, however, even as the country has ascended from one of the poorest in the world to middle-income status, the percentage of income spent on food has remained high—an indication that Vietnamese people don’t just eat to live, they live to eat.

With a population approaching 100 million, Vietnam represents an appetizing market for investors in the food and beverage (F&B) sector. According to an October 2019 assessment from market research firm Vietnam Report, the F&B sector has the highest gross output and the second highest total revenue of all economic sectors in the country, and is expected to maintain its momentum with an average annual growth rate of more than 10% in the coming years, due to rising disposable income and shifting consumer tastes.

In this promising but also competitive market, many foreign and domestic F&B companies are directing investment into research and development activities, and protecting their new products through patents and other methods.

What are the special features of patent protection in this sector? We take a look at some patent filing statistics in F&B in Vietnam—please click the link below to view the entire report.