Central Highlands coffee farmers suffer losses

A sharp decline in coffee output together with a price dip for the crop, has left Central Highlands farmers with a loss of VND500 billion (US$27 million).

The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association said that the region has now harvested 50 percent of its coffee area with prices dropping to VND24,000 a kilogram.

In addition, fertilizer and petrol prices have increased along with the cost of paying laborers to pick coffee berries.

The 2009-2010 coffee crop output in the region is likely to fall by 20-35 percent over last year to 900,000 tons.

Recent unusual weather is blamed for the decrease, with storms Ketsana and Mirinae damaging hundreds of hectares of coffee in the region.

The country has a total of 500,000 hectares on which coffee is grown, with the Central Highlands accounting for 92.79 percent of the area.

VietNamNet, SGGP

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