Vietnam now Japan's top coffee supplier
Nikkei Asian Review/VOVWORLD -
(VOVWORLD) - With more people working at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, consumption of instant coffee is perking up in Japan, making Vietnam, the world's biggest producer of robusta, Japan's top supplier of coffee beans and relegated Brazil to second place.
Robusta coffee beans are mainly used to make instant coffee.
Demand for instant coffee has spiked, according to Ajinomoto AGF, a food processor. Sales of instant coffee products in the April to June quarter grew about 10% from a year earlier, the company said. Changes in consumption patterns have also affected Japan's imports of unroasted coffee beans.
Vietnam was the top seller of unroasted beans to Japan for the first seven months of the year, according to trade data. A total of 67,392 tons of unroasted beans were imported from the Southeast Asian country during the period, up 26% on the year.
Imports from Vietnam outpaced those from Brazil, long the No. 1 supplier, for the first time. Vietnam is on track to top Brazil for the entire year, said Shiro Ozawa, an adviser with Tokyo-based specialty coffee trader Wataru & Co. "This is a historic moment,” he said.
Vietnam earned nearly 2 billion USD from exporting 1.1 million tonnes of coffee in the past 8 months.
Nikkei Asian Review/VOVWORLD