A coffee farm in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum (Photo: VNA) Nguyen Viet Hai, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Coffee - CocoaAssociation (Vicofa), told a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on January 15 that inthe 2019 - 2020 crop, 1.61 million tonnes of the bean was shipped abroad at theaverage price of 1,740 USD per tonne, bringing home 2.8 billion USD.
The figures respectively fell 5 percent, 0.4 percent, and5.3 percent from the previous crop.
The export volume of processed coffee (roasted and groundcoffee, instant coffee) dropped by over 17 percent to 110,000 tonnes, resultinga fall of 8.7 percent in value to more than 443 million USD, he pointed out.
Hai noted coffee prices remain unstable, leading to a plungein the purchase of the produce from farmers in the 2020 - 2021 crop. Fresh coffee iscurrently priced at 6.7 million - 6.9 million VND (about 289 - 298 USD) per tonne and coffee bean, 32 million - 32.5 million VND per tones, which has continued exposingfarmers to difficulties.
Vicofa Chairman Luong Van Tu cited experts as forecasting thatthe coffee market may recover in the time ahead but very slowly because theCOVID-19 pandemic remains complicated and many regions around the world haveyet to resume tourism activities. Domestic consumption still falls short ofexpectations as many coffee shops have had to shut down due to the lack of customers.
Meanwhile, coffee production has also endured impact ofstorms, climate change, ageing trees, he added.
Facing that fact, Vicofa will carry out some programmes toimprove the sector’s efficiency, Tu said, elaborating that it will step upcoffee re-cultivation, increase support to help businesses capitalise on exportchances under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Comprehensiveand Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and boost theexport of processed coffee for higher value.
Efforts will also be augmented to stimulate domestic demandto overcome the current trying time, he said.
For his part, Thai Nhu Hiep, Director of the Vinh Hiep CoffeeCompany, held that Vietnam now has a number of opportunities to expand itspresence in major markets like the EU, Japan, and the Republic of Korea thanksto FTAs.
However, he noted, to make use of those chances, the coffeesector needs to standardise farming, harvesting, and processing andensure quality and food safety meets importers’ requirements.
In the domestic market, specific quality standards are alsonecessary to differentiate coffee and coffee products added with other farmproduce in order to promote fair competition and a true coffee culture, accordingto Hiep./.
VNA
