DONG NAI, Vietnam – The Nestle Group is carrying several major projects with the aim of popularising Vietnamese coffee among coffee consumers all over the world and making Vietnam an international reference for robusta coffee, said a Nestle executive.
Executive Vice President for Nestle Nandu Nandkishore, responsible for Asia, Oceania and Africa, told the Hanoi Moi (New Hanoi) newspaper that the recent inauguration of Nestle’s 80-million USD factory in southern Dong Nai province not only marks a new step forward in the groupâs presence in Vietnam but also demonstrates that Nestle is continuing to carry out its commitment to the community, coffee farmers and consumers in the country.
The Dong Nai factory, Nestle’s second facility to produce de-caffeinated coffee beans in the world, will use only Vietnamese robusta coffee beans, and its product will be supplied to Nestle processing facilities around the world, according to the executive.
It is expected to raise the production value for Vietnamese coffee farmers as well as the Vietnamese coffee reputation in international markets, he said.
Since 2011, the company has also assisted coffee farmers in the Central Highlands in replacing old trees in a bid to improve productivity and production value, with a total of 11 million coffee seedlings to be supplied at half the price by the end of 2015.
The project also opened technical training courses to more than 20,000 local farmers to spread the application of good farming practice.
At the same time, Nestle joined the public-private partnership project in coffee production, an initiative put forward at the World Economic Forum 2010.
With the collaboration of other partners such as 4C and Rainforest Alliances, the project has been building model coffee farms and training farmers in sustainable farming techniques, contributing to reducing production costs, environmental impact and raising productivity and income for farmers.
According to the executive, Nestle’s investment in Vietnam now totals 450 million USD, but the investment carries a greater significance than merely an expansion of business.
The inauguration of the Dong Nai factory and farming projects that Nestle is carrying out in Vietnam demonstrate the group’s confidence in the country, where it has been operating successfully for more than 20 years, he said.
Vietnamese coffee is available in more than 80 countries and territories across the world, making the country the second largest coffee exporter in the world, only after Brazil.
The country is currently the world’s leading exporter of robusta coffee. Last year, it earned 3.62 billion USD from shipping 1.73 million tonnes of coffee abroad, up 33.4 percent in volume and 32.2 percent in value.
Germany and the US remained the two largest importers of Vietnamese coffee in 2014, accounting for 14.13 percent and 10.17 percent, respectively, of the country’s total coffee export turnover.
