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Coffee exports decline in value in first eight months
Coffee exports totaled 848,000 tonnes and earned US$1.25 billion in the first eight months of the year, an increase of 16.8 per cent in volume but a decline of 17.7 per cent in value compared to the same period last year, according to the Viet Nam Coffee and Cacao Association.
The decline in export value was mainly due to falling prices for Vietnamese coffee, said association chairman Luong Van Tu, noting that the average price of each tonne of coffee during the eight-month period was $613 lower than during the same period in 2008.
The price at the end of August was $1,260-1,270 per tonne, he added.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has projected that coffee exports for all of 2009 would reach 1.2 million tonnes and fetch $1.6 billion. Viet Nam had an advantage in supply over the world's other leading coffee exporters Brazil and India, both of which were projecting declining export volumes due to bad weather conditions and large numbers of old coffee trees.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien said Viet Nam's coffee prices remained lower than those of rival producers Brazil and India, while quality was comparable.
Meanwhile, in Belgium, the largest export market for Vietnamese coffee, demand had increased sharply in the first eight months of this year compared to last year, Bien said, a trend he expected to see repeated throughout the European market as the economy improved.
To exploit its advantages, Vicofa has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. State Bank of Viet Nam and the Ministry of Finance to set up a zero-interest-rate loan programme for some enterprises to buy up 150,000-200,000 tonnes of coffee from domestic growers which could be stored until the demand and price are highest on the world market.
VietNamNet, VietNamNews
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