A coffee area in Dak Lak province (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – A global glut of coffee has come to an end, and theprice of coffee is likely to go up in the near future, according to industryinsiders.
The Vietnamese coffee sector has experienced a strong fall in export volume andprice from the start of the year. The Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment said that abundant supply, together with the global downturn andescalating trade tensions, was behind the drop.
With prices at a low point, Vietnamese farmers are reluctant to invest heavily intheir next crops, so output is forecast to fall by 15 percent from the2018-2019 crop to 25.5 million sacks.
According to Nguyen Trung Kien from the Institute for Policy Strategy forAgriculture and Rural Development, domestic coffee prices have increasedslightly on the back of higher global prices.
In fact, coffee production in Brazil, the world’s top coffee grower, fell 10.5percent in the 2018-2019 crop, resulting in a surge in the prices of Arabicaand Robusta coffee.
Currently, Vietnamese coffee is present in more than 80 countries andterritories worldwide, and accounts for 14.2 percent of the global market share(just behind Brazil).
Chairman of the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association Trinh Duc Minh said that in abid to create a coffee value chain and increase the value of the sector,competent authorities should pen long-term policies for coffee production, witha focus on supporting coffee growers with advanced technologies, cultivatingtechniques, and market access, among others.
From January-November, Vietnam exported more than 1.4 million tonnes of coffee for2.5 billion USD, a fall of 15 percent in volume and 22 percent in valuecompared to the same period last year./.
VNA
