The country exported 1.04 million tonnes of coffee in the first half of this year, earning 2.12 billion USD, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The figures represented increases of 31.7 percent in volume and 24.7 percent in value on a yearly basis.

In June alone, coffee export was estimated at 109,000 tonnes worth 229 million USD.

The average price for Vietnam’s coffee for the January-May period was 2,025 USD per tonne. Germany and the US continued to be the two largest markets for Vietnamese coffee, accounting for 14.35 percent and 9.76 percent of the country’s total coffee exports, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Belgian market showed the strongest growth rate in both the volume and value of coffee import from Vietnam in the five month period, at 2.73 times and 2.53 times compared to the figure for the same period last year.

However, the Vietnam Coffee and Cacao Association (Vicofa) forecast a fall in Vietnam’s coffee output in the 2014-15 crop which starts from October due to the prolonged unfavourable weather conditions so far this year.

Vietnam is the world’s largest grower of robusta beans. The Central Highlands, which boasts the country’s largest coffee growing area, targets to harvest at least 1.2 million tonnes of coffee in the 2014-15 crop.-VNA