Vietnam’s coffee export value doubles in January

By VNA February 11, 2024 | 02:37 am PT

Farmers in Central Highlands province of Gia Lai harvest coffee. Photo by Duc Hoa

Vietnam shipped 230,000 tonnes of coffee abroad in January, earning $623 million, up 61.6% in volume and 100.3% in value year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In the last days of the Year of the Cat, the average coffee price in the Central Highland provinces continued to increase compared to the previous week. Coffee is being purchased at prices ranging from VND78,200 - 79,400 ($3.2-3.25) per kg in some localities. With the current upward trend, domestic coffee prices are likely to exceed VND80,000 per kg soon.

A surge in domestic coffee prices was attributed to the fact that traders actively purchased coffee before the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday while exporters were afraid of supply shortages like last year so they tended to buy more.

The coffee output of the 2023-2034 crop in Dak Lak province is forecast to reach 580,000 tonnes, thus the coffee export volume is estimated at 330,000 tonnes. If prices stay as high as they are now and fluctuate slightly in the near future, the province's coffee export turnover could hit $900 million.

Lam Dong province has about 175,700 ha of coffee and the output for 2023-2024 crop is expected to hit 535,000 tonnes.

In 2023, Vietnam exported over 1.6 million tonnes, down 8.7% in quantity but up 4.6% in value compared to last year, reaching a record turnover of $4.24 billion.

According to the Vietnam Coffee-Cocoa Association (Vicofa), Vietnam’s coffee production in the 2023-2024 crop will be 1.6-1.7 million tonnes, lower than 1.78 million tonnes in 2022-2023.