Ministry proposes coffee stockpile

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked the Government to permit companies to stockpile coffee from the first days of harvest, according to the Viet Nam Coffee and Cocoa Association.

The ministry suggested the Government provide preferential loans so that companies could stockpile at least 300,000 tonnes of coffee. Coffee was only harvested for a few months each year so companies were being encouraged to buy in bulk now in order to get the best possible price, the association said.

The association’s chairman Phan Huu De said that stockpiling had many advantages.

If stockpiling was permitted, farmers would have enough money to purchase fertiliser and pay workers, he said, adding that farmers would receive immediate payment for their coffee.

Stockpiling would also play an important role in stabilising the price on the world market, he said.

According to the ministry, the price of coffee has reached its highest level in the past two years, standing at about VND32 million (US$1,600) per tonne.

The entire country, especially the Central Highlands, has started to harvest the 2010-11 crop.

This year, the industry hopes to harvest 1.08 million tonnes of coffee, an increase of 2.5 per cent over last year.

The ministry announced that the country had already shipped 60,000 tonnes of coffee worth $87 million in October.

That pushed the figure for the first 10 months of the year to 973,000 tonnes worth $1.4 billion, an increase of 1.61 per cent in volume but a decrease of 0.71 per cent in value over the same period of last year.

Germany and the US have been the two biggest importers of Vietnamese coffee. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Coffee, Vietnam coffee output