A major coffee processing factory, expected to become the biggest of its kind in Viet Nam, was inaugurated on Saturday in the southern province of Dong Nai’s Nhon Trach 3 Industrial Zone.

Financed by the province-based Tin Nghia Corp, the plant has first-phase investment capital of US$30 million and is designed to produce 3,200 tonnes of coffee products per year.

Later in 2019, the plant’s annual production capacity will be raised to 5,000 tonnes. With an estimated total investment capital of $100 million, it will be able to supply 10,000 tonnes of instant and ground roasted coffee in 2021.

The company’s chairman Quach Van Duc said most of the products will be exported to North America, Europe and some markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

Chairman of the Dong Nai People’s Committee Dinh Quoc Thai said the inauguration of this processing factory will help promote the value of Vietnamese coffee products and brands. The coffee sector currently contributes to about 2 per cent of the country’s GDP and 30 per cent to the Central Highlands provinces’ economy. It creates jobs for more than two million direct and indirect labourers, according to vice chairman of the Viet Nam Coffee and Cocoa Association Nguyen Nam Hai.

The global market share of Vietnamese coffee soared from 1 per cent in 1991 to 17 per cent in 2017. Viet Nam is now the world’s second largest exporter of coffee beans and the largest robusta coffee exporter. Coffee exports account for nearly 10 per cent of the country’s total agro-forestry-fishery shipments.

The nation is likely to export 1.7 million tonnes of coffee this year, earning about $3.5 billion, according to the association’s forecast. — VNS