Collecting coffee seeds in the Central Highlands

Themed “New development stage for Vietnam’s coffee industry”, the first Vietnamese Coffee Day event was celebrated over the past 4 days in Da Lat city, Lam Dong province. Drawing representatives from the world’s top coffee producers and traders, the event was an opportunity for Vietnam to seek new business contracts.

Development and challenges

The Vietnamese coffee industry has recorded significant accomplishments over the past 30 years. In 1991, Vietnam produced only 1% of the world’s coffee. The figure climbed to 20% of the world’s 2015-2016 coffee.

In recent years, Vietnam’s coffee production has been slowed by climate change. Last year Vietnam experienced its most severe droughts in 30 years. 160,000 ha of old coffee bushes must be replanted in the next 5 years.  

President of the Vietnam Cocoa and Coffee Association, Luong Van Tu, said: “After 30 years we have to replant new coffee bushes and improve the added value so that in the next 15 years we can increase our export revenue from 3 billion to 6 billion USD. Many foreign companies have invested in Vietnam because we have large material zones and low export tariffs. India’s Tata group has invested 60 million USD in an instant coffee factory with an expected capacity of 6,000 tons per year.”

Vietnam’s coffee development orientation

Vietnam has 645,000 ha of coffee bushes. Last year’s productivity was 1.79 million tons and export revenue was 3.3 billion USD, of which roasted coffee and instant coffee made up 10%. The sector aims to maintain Vietnam’s position as second biggest coffee producer and exporter in the world and increases its production of roasted and instant coffee to maximize added values. To reach its export target of 6 billion USD by 2030, the sector has strengthened trade connectivity and promotion. The second Vietnamese Coffee Day will be held in Đắk Nông Province in 2018.