Vietnam Exports 634,000 Tons of Coffee in Jan-August

Vietnam is estimated to ship abroad 634,000 tons of coffee in the past eight months of this year, raking in US$733 million, representing an on-year fall of 8.7 per cent in volume but a rise of 33.8 per cent in value, according to the Government Statistics Office (GSO).

 

The statistics also showed that nearly 65,000 tons of Vietnamese coffee was exported in August alone, up from 52,000 tons in the same month of last year.

 

Soaring prices of Vietnamese coffee, fueled by high global demand and low domestic reserve, are mostly attributed to the increase in export value despite a sharp decline in volume.

 

At present, a kilo of Robusta coffee is sold for VND21,700 (US$1.3) in the central highland province of Lam Dong, up VND2,300 (14.4 US cents) over last week's price.

 

There may be a shortage of coffee in the near future and the prices of coffee will then continue to rise before the coffee crop is harvested in October, the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa) has warned.

 

However, experts from the association have recently raised concerns over the threat of looting posed by high coffee prices and sunny September weather, which may lead to poorer bean quality as Vietnamese coffee farmers start harvesting early to protect the crop and cash in.

 

They said the looters will be active in the key coffee-growing Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen) as long as prices in Vietnam, the world's top Robusta producer stay around VND20,000 ($1.25) per kilogram, near a five-year high.

 

"The weather has been very good now and if sunny days come in September, the harvest could start early because some cherries are ripe," they said. 

 

But an early harvest that takes place while coffee cherries are green, coupled with hasty picking to avoid looting, will make it difficult to process coffee and raise the ratio of black beans. Unripened coffee beans tend to be disqualified during processing because the high moisture content in the cherries spoils the beans in them.

 

Black beans are regarded as defective and may affect the selling price.

 

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Diep Kinh Tan, harvesting unripened cherries could mean losses of 100,000 tons each crop.

 

He said at a recent seminar that Vietnamese farmers were aware of the quality problem, but they often chose to harvest early rather than leave them unprotected on the farm.

 

About 80 per cent of Vietnam's coffee is grown by 600,000 farmer families, making it difficult for the state to control crop production and ensure stable quality.

 

Vietnamese Robusta, which is used to make instant coffee and which is priced lower than aromatic Arabica, is sold at discounts to London futures contracts partly because of its lower quality.

 

The country is projected to yield only 11.5 million 60-kilo bags of coffee in 2005-2006 crop, 14 per cent less than 2005. The volume of coffee reserve has been estimated at less than 40,000 tons, while the demand for Vietnamese coffee has increased.

 

Vietnam's coffee harvest continues for four months. If the weather is fine, it will take a week after harvest to have coffee ready for exports, but if it rains, it will take longer.