HCM CITY — According to the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Vietnam’s coffee exports during the first half of calendar year 2019 amounted to 943,000 tons worth US$1.6 million, down 9.2% in volume and 20% in value compared the equivalent period of 2018.
Exports earnings were strongly down due to the price of Robusta coffee falling in London due to a global glut, with Vietnam getting the lowest rates of all exporters.
Exporters said around 80 per cent of coffee exports are done using a method in which they sign a sales contract, receive a certain proportion of the contract value beforehand, and deliver the products after harvest (also called differential).
The price is decided by rates fixed on global coffee trading floors at the time of delivery.
But Vietnamese exporters are often forced to sell at cheaper prices because of this differential business model in addition to the unstable quality of their products when compared with international benchmarks.
