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Coffee exports hit $2.2bil in 2008
The country's coffee exports are estimated to hit one million tonnes this year, earning a turnover of US$2.2 billion, according to the Viet Nam Coffee and Cocoa Association.
This is a 18.6 per cent decrease in the volume of exported coffee, but a 7.2 per cent increase in value, said the association.
The coffee sector aims to post an annual growth rate of 4.9 per cent and export 900,000-1.1 million tonnes each year, with an average export price of about $2,000 per tonne, the association said.
The sector will make increasing export value its top priority.
Viet Nam Coffee Corp Deputy General Director Nguyen Van Truong said that the majority of exported Vietnamese coffee is currently unprocessed, a major weakness which has reduced the price of Vietnamese coffee in the global market.
In addition, domestic enterprises are not paying enough attention to quality standards or sufficiently building up their own coffee trademarks, Truong said.
Economic experts emphasised the importance of technical innovations in planting, harvesting and processing beans to improve the quality of Vietnamese coffee.
Enterprises should take suitable steps to expand their local market shares, focus on trade promotion and diversify their coffee products, said experts.
Experts also called for the State to establish an information centre to provide coffee producers and exporters with updated market information about potential consumers and changes in the global market.
Professor Tran Dinh Thien, deputy director of the Viet Nam Institute of Economics, said that Vietnamese enterprises should start producing and distributing coffee, instead of merely selling the raw materials.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has approved a plan to boost the competitiveness of Viet Nam's coffee industry by 2015, improving both the quantity and quality of exports. The plan has an investment capital of VND32.8 trillion ($1.9 billion).
The plan will reduce the production cost of coffee from $600-650 per tonne to $450-500 per tonne. By 2015, the industry is targeting a rise in the export of high quality coffee to 50-70 per cent of Viet Nam's total coffee output.
Coffee accounts for 8 per cent of the country's total agricultural production and 20 per cent of its agricultural export revenue. The country's coffee is sold to 75 countries and territories including European countries, the US, Japan and South Korea.
Viet Nam News
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