(VOVworld) - Since 1997, Vietnam has been among the world’s top four coffee exporters. Now it has surpassed Brazil to become the world’s top exporter. VOV’s To Tuan reviews the country’s achievements in the field.

Over the past decade, coffee has been Vietnam’s second largest hard currency earner after rice. In the first months of this year, coffee exports continued to grow. August revenues rose 20 million USD, following a growth of 250 million USD in July. Vietnam has earned more than 2.7 billion USD from exporting nearly 1.3 million of coffee this year. According to the International Coffee Organization, in the first half of this year, Vietnam’s coffee export value reached USD2.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 25%. This was 13% more than the earnings of Brazil, which for decades led the world in coffee exports.

Statistics released by Vietnam’s Coffee and Cacao Association, VICOFA, show that Vietnam’s Arabica coffee exports increased  from 24,000 tonnes in 2009 to 41,000 tonnes in 2010 and 50,000 tonnes in 2011. The export price has almost doubled, from 2,300 USD per ton in 2009 to 4,200 USD per ton last year. Robusta coffee, which has a much lower value than Arabica coffee, accounts for a large proportion of the total export volume, and the price gap between Arabica and Robusta coffee has doubled. Vietnam’s coffee is available in 80 countries and territories and its Arabica coffee is favoured by demanding consumers in the US, Germany, Japan, and Belgium. Nguyen Cong Thanh, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Coffee Company, says ‘A club of Vietnam’s leading exporters has recently been established involving 20 businesses with 90% of export market share. Facing the current challenges of the market economy, Vietnamese coffee exporters should be more united. ’

To satisfy the tastes of consumers around the world, Vicofa will zone off high-quality coffee growing areas, crossbreed varieties, and invest more in high-tech to improve the quality of processing to increase production and export values toward sustainability. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development aims to expand Arabica acreage under the Good Agricultural Practices program to half of the country’s total coffee acreage. Do Ha Nam, VICOFA’s Vice President says that the GAP standards will also be applied to producing processed coffee ‘The Government should outline more preferential policies and increase promotional activities for the sector to help create a reputation for the industry. This is also a way to promote the image of Vietnam.’

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development aims to expand Arabica coffee acreage to 40,000 hectares by 2020, 8% of the country’s total coffee acreage. The coffee industry contributes about 3% of Vietnam’s GDP and generates more than 2.5 million jobs.

To Tuan