As a major coffee exporter in the world, Vietnam has shipped its coffee to many countries. But, according to experts, the result is still incommensurate with existing potentials. Marketing and advertising campaigns for Vietnamese coffee brands were made light.
Export achievements
In 2010, Vietnam exported 1.1 million tonnes of coffee, earning nearly US$1.7 billion. At present, the country is the world’s second largest producer and exporter of coffee after only Brazil. Although the output was bad, high prices generated such a large export value. A tonne of coffee was averagely sold at US$1,503 per tonne in 2010, compared with US$1,462 in 2009.
According to Mr Phan Huu De, Secretary General of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), this good result came after the Government made timely interventions: stockpiling 200,000 tonnes of coffee in early 2010 to prevent the price drop as in previous years.
Besides, Brazil and Indonesia, the top and third coffee exporters in the world, also adopted policies to reduce supply and push up prices to avoid losses of businesses and growers.
However, according to experts, the value of this commodity did not match potentials. Giving explanations to this, Mr Luong Van Tu, Chairman Vicofa, said Vietnam is discussing the sustainable coffee development strategy and is expected to be completed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development this year to submit to the Prime Minister for approval. Besides, aging coffee farms, which account for some 30 % of area, should be re-used in coming years.
Concerns remain
Although Vietnam made a success in coffee export in 2010, many problems will need to be addressed by the coffee industry. At a recent coffee conference held in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr Doan Xuan Hoa, Deputy Director of Agro-forestry, Fishery and Salt Industry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the quality of coffee is a worrying problem because some small businesses disregard this matter to take more profit but harming the reputation of the Vietnamese coffee quality by and large.
Domestic consumption remains weak, links between processors, farmers and traders are still lax, and coffee farmers are still poor. Without official information, farmers usually sell off coffee prices when they learn a bad rumour, causing instability of coffee market. This has affected the sustainable development of coffee industry.
According to Mr Do Ha Nam, President and General Director of Intimex Export Import Joint Stock Company, some traders use some tactics to push up prices when the market is instable and their unprofessional activity spoil the general prestige of Vietnamese coffee. He also noted difficulties Vietnamese exporters encountered when foreign importers did not settle payment on time or in full.
Besides, with over 85 % of private coffee farms having an area of less than 2 hectares, the industry difficultly expands areas, raises productivity and applies synchronous technologies. This is also a reason for uneven quality of Vietnamese coffee. Processing methods are obsolete and majorly manual. Over 90 % of coffee is processed by dry and semi-wet methods.
According to experts at a recent Coffee Outlook conference, the coffee branding is not easy because it is very costly and not all units can afford this. Director of a coffee company said other barriers to branding process are most companies lack marketing force, foreign language proficiency and knowledge about consumer tastes in foreign countries.
Phuong Linh
Vietnamese
