Vietnam’s cocoa industry is likely to experience a bright future as both foreign buyers and domestic companies are lining up and positioning themselves to invest in processing, said local agriculture authorities.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Cargill Viet Nam, a wholly US-invested company in southern Dong Nai province has invested VND1 billion (USUS$60,000) to establish purchasing agencies for cocoa grown in central highlands Dak Lak and Mekong Delta Ben Tre provinces.
Nguyen Vinh Thanh, director of Cargill Viet Nam’s purchasing division said the company is making preparations for future plans by buying a ton of cocoa beans to preserve and study as sample goods.
Thanh said that most cocoa plantations under the Government’s development plan that began in 2003 have yet to harvest beans.
But, Thanh said cocoa farms could reap as much as 500 tons for export in 2007, expected to rise to 10,000 tons by 2010. US Cargill Corporation buys 400,000 tons of cocoa from the world market every year, and has shifted its sights to the potential in Vietnam.
The ministry said five other foreign companies have purchasing plans for Vietnamese cocoa. Farm produce specialists ED&F Man Corporation from Britain opened a wholly foreign invested company in Vietnam two years ago to buy cocoa.
Britain’s Armajaro, which has established a 100 per cent foreign owned company to trade in coffee and cocoa in Vietnam and Singapore’s Oslam Corporation, among others, have also set up shop to get involved in the industry.
Nguyen Van Hoa, head of the ministry’s cultivation department said foreign companies believe Vietnam could become an important cocoa supplier, given the world market shortage predicted for the near future. Cocoa supply from Africa and other major cocoa suppliers has become unstable due to political tensions.
The department said the country’s total cocoa area will be expanded to 16,000ha this year, nearly double that of last year. The total area under cocoa cultivation is expected to reach 20,000ha by 2010, half of which will be harvested in the next four years.
Domestic private companies are coming on board as well, showing interest in cocoa processing. Thuan Kieu Ltd Company in southern Binh Duong province has invested in building Vietnam’s first cocoa processing plant in Ben Tre province.
Company director Ly Van Phuoc said the plant aims to double its start-up investment capital to USUS$10 million after raw cocoa becomes readily available.
The plant will be put into operation next year, capable of processing 10,000 tons of cocoa beans into powder and cocoa butter per year, all of which is destined for export.
Phuoc said he has high hopes on Ben Tre’s cocoa development plan. By 2010, local cocoa farms are to be expanded to 10,000ha. Local cocoa growers are also benefiting from US Department of Agriculture funding of US$4.5 million from 2004 to 2006 to provide technical and plant strain assistance on 7,500ha of cocoa.
Phuoc said three other domestic companies have signaled they are planning to buy raw cocoa beans and build processing plants in Vietnam.
VNS
Vietnamese
