In the first half of this year, Vietnam shipped more than 832,000 tonnes of coffee abroad, fetching US$1.217 billion, an increase of 109 percent from a year ago and fulfilling 92 percent of the yearly plan. If the growth is maintained, the sector’s target of earning US$1.5 billion from exports this year is within reach.

However, experts have warned that Vietnamese coffee growers should not rest on their laurels. They said despite the high export value, the sector still relies on imported materials such as fertilisers. As growers do not manage input materials, their income is affected by global fluctuations. Meanwhile, the limited quality management system, poor post-harvest preservation and obsolete processing technology affect the quality of export coffee. In addition, the domestic coffee consumption market is rather small, making up only 10 percent of the country’s population.  

Ho Thanh Hai, director of Hai Ho Coffee Company, said growers and businesses have for years maintained the practice of harvesting coffee early, which affects both quality and quantity of coffee. To improve the quality, he said it is imperative to stop this practice and shift the harvest to other times to save watering costs and avoid harvesting the product in the rainy season, causing disadvantages to processors. In addition, he said State management of coffee quality should be strengthened by applying standard TCVN 4193:2005 for export products.

However, this decision has not been welcomed by coffee processors who say a large amount of coffee will not be shipped abroad as it fails to meet the standard and that they will have to invest in installing new production lines to meet the standard for the 2007-2008 crop. 

According to Van Thanh Huy, president of the Vietnam Coffee and Cacao Association, Vietnamese coffee contains 1 percent of mixed blends and association members are trying to reduce the level to 0.5 percent. 

“We’d rather export high-quality coffee than low-quality coffee, even in a smaller volume and this will help us avoid trade barriers established by importers, said Mr Huy. “To do this, we should change the thinking of dealers and businesses to promote healthy trading practices.”

He proposed that the Ministry of Industry and Trade and other relevant agencies issue instructions and have a specific roadmap to help growers, processors and businesses deal with export procedures.  

Nguyen Van Thiet, chief representative of UTZ Kapeh Vietnam, said the Vietnam should join global coffee organisations and associations to promote its coffee trademark.

Based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, UTZ Kapeh, one of the largest coffee certification programmes in the world, has granted certificates to seven coffee companies of the central highland province of Dak Lak, the central province of Quang Tri and the northern province of Son La, and a UK trading company in the central highland province of Lam Dong. 

In 2006, about 22,000 tonnes of Vietnamese coffee met UTZ Kapeh standard and received a bonus of US$40/tonne. UTZ Kapeh expects to grant quality standard certificates to 100,000 tonnes of Vietnamese coffee by 2010.