During the first half of this year, Vietnam exported 913,000 tonnes of coffee, earning $2 billion in turnover, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in a report by Viet Nam News. The exports are represented in year-on-year increases of 200 per cent in value and 38.6 per cent in volume. Despite the period’s record export price, domestic coffee agencies are unable to buy sufficient quantities of coffee because foreign enterprises have bought up to 70 per cent of the supply, says Nguyen Nam Hai, General Secretary of G20, a Vietnamese coffee producer. “The situation had a negative influence on the country’s coffee sector because the global coffee price was forecast to continue rising in the remaining months of this year while farmers would not have enough coffee to sell and foreign firms would gain the greatest benefits,” Hai says. He added that he had been forced to buy coffee from foreign businesses to honour previously singed contracts, because of inadequate financial capacity. The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association chairman Luong Van Tu, says they were not permitted to use their networks to buy coffee. The government’s policies only allowed foreign companies to invest in coffee growing, processing, preservation for export and the transfer of advanced technology. However, about 10 foreign businesses have set up agencies to purchase coffee directly from farmers in Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Lam Dong and Gia Lai in the Central Highlands.
