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Coffee association may stockpile beans to protect farmers
The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association plans to buy 200,000 metric tons of coffee for stockpiles this October to protect farmers’ incomes, said the group’s chairman.
“We are asking for government’s approval to borrow money at low interest rates to buy coffee from farmers from the start of this crop year in October to help them when prices drop,” Luong Van Tu said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
The plan will also protect farmers who have to sell beans in bulk to pay off debts at the end of the year, Tu said.
Vietnam, the world’s second-biggest coffee producer, wants to stockpile the beans to support export prices. Coffee is the nation’s second-most valuable crop after rice, and a key foreign-exchange earner.
Robusta coffee, the bitter-tasting variety cultivated in Vietnam and priced in London, has dropped 33 percent to US$1,498 a metric ton in the past 12 months.
Vietnam’s agriculture ministry has submitted the association’s stockpiling proposal to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung for approval, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Diep Kinh Tan said July 2. The country may set up warehouses for coffee and rice, he said.
thanhnien, bloomberg
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