Vietnam promotes tea, coffee at int’l expo
Organised by the
Malaysian Tea Trade Association, the Malaysia International Tea and
Coffee Expo (MITCE) aims to increase information exchanges and embrace
global economic links, said the organising chairman Ooi Wee Boon.
He underlined tea and coffee as the two key Asian trade products, and
raised the fact that in Malaysia, tea consumption doubled from 14,000 to
24,000 tonnes over the past decade.
Participating
countries are showcasing various tea and coffee samples at 76 booths
over an area of over 5,000 square meters. Vietnamese products,
especially Trung Nguyen coffee, have impressed visitors with their
unique taste.
Two-way trade between Vietnam and
Malaysia posted an average growth of 24 percent per year during the
2011-2013 period, according to Hoang Thi Lien, a representative from the
Trade Office of the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia.
She noted that bilateral trade hit 9.1 billion USD in the year just
gone, of which Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of 850 million USD.
In addition to crude oil, rice, electronic spare
parts, computers, and plastic products, tea and coffee are the country’s
major export lines.
In 2013, tea and coffee exports to Malaysia were estimated at 3.7 million USD and 40 million USD, respectively.
According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, tea and coffee
farmers brought home 270,000 USD and 632,000 USD respectively in this
January.-VNA