According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Germany, the US, Indonesia, Italy and Japan were among the country’s key export markets. Germany accounted for more than 14% of exports though its purchases fell by 18% year-on-year.
Do Ha Nam, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, described the situation as “good.”
The sector’s export target for the 2017-18 crop is 1.5 million tonnes. In the last quarter of 2017, 400,000 tonnes of coffee had been exported, meaning only another 600,000 tonnes have to be exported to meet the target.
The association said Vietnam’s coffee output is expected to increase by 15% this year, but would not create pressure because the increase would be much lower than in most years.
Vietnam exported 1.4 million tonnes last year for US$3.2 billion. The country’s exports were down sharply last year due to a fall in output because of the impact of climate change, but thanks to high prices, the export value was down by only 2.7% over 2016, the association said.
Vietnam is the second largest exporter behind Brazil. The country’s coffee industry has carried out a restructuring programme to improve its competitiveness by improving productivity, quality and value.
Under the programme, the country plans to keep the coffee growing area at 600,000ha and focus on planting new trees with higher productivity and quality, it said.
