Coffee exports suffer strong drops

Hanoi – Coffee exports in November saw a 13.9 percent decrease in volume to 120,000 tonnes, earning 207 million USD, a drop of 20.4 percent compared to the same period last year.

According to statistics of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the volume of coffee shipments abroad in the January-November period came to 1.473 million tonnes, down 14.6 percent, while export value also experienced a 22.2 percent decrease to nearly 2.54 billion USD.

The total export volume for the entire 2019 is estimated at 1.57 million tonnes, and the value at 2.7 billion USD, falling 16.57 percent and 21.17 percent, respectively, from 2018.

Do Ha Nam, former Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Coffee-Cocoa Association, said the reductions are attributable to falling coffee prices in the world market in line with the 10-year cycle. Previously, 2010 was also a bad year for coffee exporters.

He added that although coffee prices began to pick up in early December, the situation remains gloomy for Vietnamese coffee growers as some big exporting countries like Brazil have reported good harvest.

Nam called on the industry to expand instant coffee production to make use of tariff incentives offered by bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements that Vietnam has signed.