Profits from coffee exports increase by 13%

Viet Nam exported 100,000 tonnes of coffee, worth US$175 million in the first month of this year, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

MARD added despite a decrease of 30.3 per cent in volume, the export value in January still increased by 13.2 per cent over the same month of last year.

The ministry attributed the high value to record coffee prices.

The price of coffee in the first days of this year stood at VND40 million ($1,900) per tonne.

This had been the highest level within four recent years, the ministry affirmed.

Currently, domestic coffee prices are increasing to between VND40.2 million ($1,910) and VND40.5 million ($1,940) a tonne.

Record prices and farmers deciding to stockpile coffee to wait for higher prices would limit the supply in the coming days. Exporters were also strongly buying coffee. These factors would further push the price up, said General Director of CafeControl Company Nguyen Nam Hai.

Agreeing with Hai, chairman of the Viet Nam Coffee and Cocoa Association Luong Van Tu said the price would continue to rise in the near future.

Tu predicted that coffee prices would increase to about $2,080 per tonne in May, an increase of 48 per cent compared with the last days of 2009.

These results are unsurprising considering a Government decision this year to loan farmers to harvest, stockpile and produce coffee.

With this loan, farmers no longer have to sell coffee in big volumes to recoup their capital like in the past, Tu explained.

In 2011, MARD forecasts coffee production will be more developed with about 548,000ha devoted to the crop, a year-on-year increase of 1.8 per cent. This year, the total yield is estimated to be 1.1 million tonnes, up 4.6 per cent over last year.

Viet Nam has recently become the biggest robusta coffee producer and the second biggest coffee exporter in the world. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam Coffee, vietnam coffee exports