Coffee exports down in volume, up in value

Coffee exports dropped 20.5% in volume in the first nine months of this year, but the value still inched up 1.3% to US$2.55 billion as export prices were on the increase, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The average export price was US$2,286 per ton, up 27.4% against the same period last year.

The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA) attributed the sharp decline in export volume to the decrease in domestic supply after the 2016-2017 crop failure. However, the 2016-2017 annual crop is still considered favourable for Vietnam coffee exports as global coffee production was going down.

Crop failure in Brazil was the main cause, pushing the coffee price up. Vietnam will enter the main harvest season as from October while Brazil coffee productivity is estimated to be lower than expected. As a result, the price of coffee is expected to stand high.

Last year, Vietnam shipped 1.79 million tons of coffee to get US$3.36 billion, a year-on-year rise of 33.6% in volume and 25.6% in value.