The Central Highlands provinces achieved export turnover of more than US$2.66 billion in 2017, reaching nearly 102 per cent of the year’s plan and increasing 22.71 per cent compared with 2016.

The Central Highlands provinces also achieved the highest export turnover ever this year.

According to the Central Highlands Steering Committee’s Standing Board, at present, export commodities in the Central Highlands provinces are increasingly diversified, contributing to the increase in export turnover.

The main export products of the Central Highlands provinces include coffee, pepper, rubber and alumin, as well as honey, tapioca starch, cashew nuts, vegetables and flowers.

Of these provinces, Dak Lak Province had the highest export turnover with over $575 million, achieving 100.9 per cent of the year’s plan and a year-on-year increase of 4.55 per cent.

Export products of Dak Lak are coffee beans, instant coffee, pepper and rubber, as well as tapioca starch and honey.

Currently, Dak Lak Province has exported coffee beans to 75 countries and territories globally, including 36 markets with turnover of more than $1 million. Of these, 10 markets achieved export turnover of over $10 million, namely Germany, Japan, the United States and Italy, as well as Switzerland, the Republic of Korea, India, Spain, Mexico and Sweden.

In addition to the export of coffee beans, the Central Highlands provinces also encouraged domestic and foreign enterprises to invest in the construction of coffee processing facilities to increase the added value of coffee products – the leading agricultural export products of the Central Highlands.

In Dak Lak Province, there are a number of domestic and foreign enterprises building factories to process coffee powder and instant coffee for export such as An Thai Development and Investment Joint Stock Company, Nam Nguyen Company Limited and Ngon Coffee Company Limited.

The provinces in the Central Highlands have promoted trade promotion, directly connecting with customers. Besides this, import-export businesses have also expanded their direct sales channels to large customers and final consumers in many countries.

However, according to the Standing Board of the Central Highlands’ Steering Committee, the export commodities are still mainly raw materials, therefore, the value added is low and economic efficiency is not high.

Specifically, although Dak Lak Province is considered the key coffee and pepper supplier region of the country, the provincial annual export is only some 215,000 tonnes of coffee beans, over 4,800 tonnes of pepper and more than 5,000 tonnes of rubber latex. — VNS