Inside Marubeni Corp's instant coffee processing plant in Brazil. — Photo courtesy of Marubeni

Marubeni Corporation of Japan plans to develop an instant coffee processing plant, expected to cost 12.7 billion Japanese Yen (nearly US$118 million), in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

This will be the firm’s second coffee processing plant following another one in Brazil, a Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Japan reported.

Construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in 2020, with an annual production capacity of 16,000 tonnes of products.

In a statement on Wednesday, Marubeni confirmed it had started an instant coffee manufacturing and sales business in Viet Nam, which will mainly target the Chinese and ASEAN markets where demand for instant coffee is increasing.

The plant’s construction will begin immediately upon obtaining all necessary permits, and commercial operation and supply will commence in 2022, the Japanese enterprise said.

According to Marubeni, worldwide instant coffee demand is expected to increase as a result of economic expansion. Demand in China and ASEAN, with more than two billion people altogether, is growing at a rate of more than 5 per cent per year, far beyond the world average of 2 per cent.

Moreover, the demand in these areas is expected to expand even more in the future. Viet Nam is the second biggest coffee producing country next to Brazil, and the biggest producer of robusta coffee, which is the predominant variety used in instant coffee. This makes Viet Nam the most suitable country to produce instant coffee for sale to China and ASEAN, the company said. — VNS