Viet Nam will step up its processed coffee industry to take full advantage of the benefits from free trade agreements, towards the goal ofaiming for an export target of US$6 billion by 2030, said a representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The MoIT representative spoke at a seminar organised with Central Group to connect and promote the export of processed coffee products to foreign markets in Ha Noi on December 7, saying: “The FTAs ​​that Viet Nam has signed have opened markets for processed coffee products with preferential tax rates from 0 to 5 per cent.”

The representative said: “Coffee is one of the key export agricultural products of Viet Nam,” adding that local coffee exports are currently ranked second in the world, just behind Brazil. Currently, local coffee is present in more than 80 countries and territories around the world.

Consuming about 20 to 25 per cent of the local coffee in Viet Nam and producing processed products, Nestle Vietnam in October announced an extra $132 million investment in its Nestle Tri An factory in Dong Nai to increase its processing capacity of high-quality coffee lines.

Earlier, Binu Jacob, managing director of Nestle Vietnam, told Viet Nam News: “The Vietnamese market can become a production centre for packaged F&B products for the whole world because of the country's skilled workforce and great work ethics.”

Aiming to transform the Vietnamese market into a hub for producing and supplying high-value coffee for domestic and international markets, he also said Nestle products made in Viet Nam are sold to over 25 countries around the world, including high-demand areas such as Europe, Japan, South Korea, the US, and Australia.

According to the firm, in the first three quarters of 2021, it has achieved double-digit growth of its coffee exports compared to the same period last year.

Suan Win Lee, supply chain director of Nestle Vietnam, said: “Viet Nam is the world's second-largest exporter of Robusta coffee. Viet Nam also ranks high in productivity. Therefore, in the near term, Viet Nam should pay more attention to improvements in productivity, certification, and sustainable agriculture practices to meet the rising demand for coffee globally.”

Meanwhile Le Hoang Diep Thao and her firm Trung Nguyen International's King Coffee were honoured to represent Viet Nam's coffee and agricultural products industry at the World Expo 2020 Dubai (October 2021 - March 2022).

Also Vice President of the Viet Nam Cocoa Coffee Association, Thao said she attended the expo, adding that it opened up international development opportunities for Vietnamese coffee and agricultural products through the Dubai gateway.

She told Viet Nam News she was preparing for the opening of an office and the launch of the first flagship store of TNI King Coffee in the Middle East.

Considering Dubai a very good gateway to the world, Thao said: “TNI King Coffee implements international business development activities with partners from more than 120 countries and continues the strategy of expanding the international market through this channel (Dubai Gateway).”

She added: “Through distribution and franchising, TNI King Coffee is rapidly going global, introducing global consumers to Viet Nam's coffee.”

Next year, MoIT will continue to coordinate with localities and industry associations to deploy programmes to promote and support the export of Vietnamese agricultural products in general and coffee in particular to the regional market.

At the seminar with MoIT in Ha Noi, coffee experts, producers and processing enterprises of Lam Dong, Dak Nong, Dak Lak, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Son La and coffee importers from Europe were also present.

Information on production, processing, branding and packaging was shared by experts and traders from France, Italy, and the Netherlands. They also shared useful information and experience about coffee consumption needs and tastes for Vietnamese coffee production and processing enterprises.

Since 2019, within the framework of a scheme to promote Vietnamese enterprises to directly participate in foreign distribution networks, MoIT’s European - American Market Department hosted many programmes to support manufacturing, processing coffee enterprises and exporters of the products with market information, as well as organising trade connection activities and programmes to introduce and promote Vietnamese coffee to foreign partners.

MoIT said the seminar was an opportunity for processed coffee exporters to meet and exchange with international experts in this field, thereby learning, researching and producing high quality and suitable products that match the tastes and consumption habits of foreign customers, bringing Vietnamese branded coffee products with high quality and added value to foreign consumers.

According to the general department of customs, in 2020, the whole country exported 1.57 million tonnes of coffee, with a turnover of $2.74 billion, while in the first 11 months of this year, Viet Nam's coffee exports are estimated at 1.36 million tonnes, valued at $2.63 billion. — VNS