The Quality Of Viet Nam Coffee

The price of coffee in the global market began to increase again in 2005.As far as Vietnamese coffee traders were concerned, the last two years have been a golden opportunity for investing in this market.

According to the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Viet Nam exported 808,375 tonnes of certified coffee worth US$957 million by the end of 2006.

These statistics are backed up by reports from the General Department of Customs. Officials announced Viet Nam exported 912,553 tonnes of coffee, consisting of both certified and uncertified brands, and garnered $1.12 billion.

Additionally, we also shipped 869 tonnes of instant coffee to 25 countries and territories worldwide and earned $2.7 million.

Coffee exports will only grow in 2007. The average number of bags sold in a season is set to rise almost 10 per cent.

However, due to the abundance of Vietnamese coffee on the global market, the price of coffee may decrease slightly, but will be offset by consumers' higher demand for exports.

The competitiveness of coffee in the global market depends mainly on its quality. What do you think about this?

Home-grown Robusta beans are thought of highly by our international consumers because they originate from Africa and now flourish in our Central Highlands provinces with high quality.

However, the quality of these beans deteriorates when shipped to other countries. This is because we have as yet to apply coffee bean quality management standards of the International Coffee Organisation (ICO).

I personally believe authorities should apply soon the quality management standards as per the ICO's request. They should also help farmers in processing after the beans are harvested in order to increase the quality of coffee for export.

What are other measures authorities have put in place to increase our coffee's quality?

We are trying to apply the new management system gradually. Additionally, we plan to offer training courses to add skilled human resources to improve coffee farming, processing and trading.

By doing this, we can ensure we export better coffee.

The Government needs to take part in helping the coffee industry become more innovative by creating farming co-operatives and using advanced technology to process our beans. If we implement these changes successfully, Viet Nam will have high-quality coffee for export in the near future and farmers will benefit from new knowledge and techniques.

Last but not least, I think Viet Nam should create a promotional programme to advertise drinking coffee in the domestic market.

At present, Viet Nam is regarded as the second largest coffee producer in the global market. However, our consumption of the product is very low.

Meanwhile, Brazil, the largest coffee producer in the world, is the second biggest market for coffee after the US. Scientific studies out of Brazil prove the many health benefits that come from drinking a moderate amount of coffee.

There is no reason Vietnamese shouldn't enjoy this beverage as much as Brazilians do.

VNS