A farmer harvests coffee cherries in Kon Tum province. (Photo: VNA) Tien was speaking at the international conference on coffee on December 11.
The Deputy Minister said Vietnam had 710,000ha of coffee with a yield of 2.7tonnes per hectare in 2021, three times higher than the average global yield.Between 2021 and 2022, the country produced 1.7 million tonnes and exported3.9 billion USD worth of coffee, up 31.3% year-by-year.
"With farmers of great industry and firms of great adaptability, Vietnam hasmoved up to the top of the world's largest robusta coffee producers," saidTien.
Amid the unfavourable global conditions, he urged the Vietnam Coffee CocoaAssociation (Vicofa) to push ahead with sustainable development, focus onintensively-processing methods, and promote Vietnamese coffee culture to expandits global footprint.
Le Van Duc, deputy director of the Plant Cultivation Department, Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development, said Vietnam is among the countries with thehighest coffee yield in the world. It also secures the 6th position in terms ofcoffee-growing areas.
The EU is its largest importer, consuming 42% of its coffee export. Asiancountries come second, and the US comes third with 10%. By types of coffee,robusta makes up 75% of the export whereas around 20% go to processed coffee.
"We hope that processed coffee would take a bigger share of the pie in theshort term," said Duc.
He called on the Vietnamese coffee industry to shift its focus to intensively-processingmethods to improve its position in the international scene. He also suggestedintegrating digital technology into coffee production to enhance the linksamong players along the supply chain.
Do Ha Nam, Vice President of Vicofa, remarked that Vietnamese coffee exportsnormally reach a peak between December and March and fall off peak afterward.In the first six months of 2022, the figure topped 1 million tonnes, thehighest in the past several years.
Out of 10 large coffee exporters in Vietnam, six are Vietnamese companies andfour are foreign-direct-investment-financed ones, indicating that the latterare well positioned to expand domestically.
"Foreign manufacturers are relocating their coffee-processing factories toVietnam for reasons of free trade agreements and low labour costs," saidNam.
Nam called for more favourable bank loans to coffee farmers to help themimprove their yield. He also called for a complete ban on the use of glyphosateagents in coffee farming to prevent water contamination.
As urban migration is expected to cause labour shortages in coffee farms in thelong term, mechanisation is the only option for coffee producers to pick up theslack and keep output stable.
Vanusia Nogueira, executive director of the International Coffee Organisation(ICO), remarked that global coffee prices go up and down in a cycle of two tothree years over the past 20 years.
"When prices are high, producers become excited and cultivate more coffeeplants. Consequently, they have huge production in about two to three years,leading to falling prices afterward," said Nogueira.
The executive director suggested three likely scenarios for global coffeeconsumption by 2030. One of the scenarios was that the consumption would growby 2.5% annually in the next eight years, reaching 48 million 60-kg-bags in2030.
Victor Mah, President of the ASEAN Coffee Federation and ASEAN CoffeeInstitute, claimed that the two organisations are committed to giving fullsupport to all their members in promoting domestic coffee consumption as wellas trade activities for ASEAN coffee.
"With an estimated annual coffee export of over $3.9 billion, Vietnam playsa vital role in uplifting the whole ASEAN coffee sector," said Mah.
He also said that Vietnamese coffee producers need to keep the sustainabilityof farmers top of their minds to be able to gain ground internationally.
"As we are entering a period of climate change, the sustainability offarmers is a big factor that will affect our coffee production in the years tocome," he added.
According to Ablede Komlan, in charge of the Coffee and Coco Research Center inTogo, Vietnamese coffee producers should work to unlock the full potential ofthe domestic market before proceeding to expand their market reach elsewhere.
"There are a lot of coffee shops in Vietnam. That means the domesticconsumption of coffee will create jobs," said Komlan./.
VNA
