Vietnam brews up quality-coffee plan
HANOI - The Vietnamese government has approved a large-scale
program to improve the quality and competitiveness of local coffee in the
international market.
Under the program, the coffee sector will need about VND610 billion
(more than US$40 million) by 2005 to build coffee processing and
storing establishments, develop infrastructure facilities (especially
irrigation works), select suitable and high-yield coffee strains, and build
nurseries.
The Vietnam Coffee and Cacao Association (VCCA) said that prices for
Vietnamese coffee have continued to fall in recent months and were
between 25-40 percent lower than the world's average. Local experts
said that the variable quality of Vietnamese coffee was largely
responsible for its price decline. Recent oversupply in the world coffee
market has also played a role in the falling prices.
First-rate-quality volume accounted for only 17 percent of Vietnam's
total coffee sales in the past two consecutive crops, said the VCCA.
Experts said that only by investing in post-harvest technology can local
coffee producers improve their product quality.
There are about 50 industrial coffee-processing lines with a combined
capacity of 100,000 tonnes a year across the country. Vietnam exports
600,000-700,000 tonnes of coffee a year on average. It exported
759,000 tonnes of coffee, earning $337 million, in the first 10 months of
this year. The export volume increased 41.5 percent while its value fell
18 percent year-on-year.
Asia Times - November 14, 2001.
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