Hanoi, Vietnam — Vietnam exported 94,000 tonnes of unroasted coffee to Japan during the first 11 months of 2018, up from 88,000 tonnes in the equivalent period of 2017, according to trade sources. Vietnam is closing in on market-leader Brazil whose export to Japan fell 7 percent year on year over the same period says Nikkei Asian Review.
The publication quoted Toyohide Nishino, executive director of the All Japan Coffee Fair Trade Association, as saying that consumer thirst for good tasting, low-priced coffee is driving Robusta’s market share.
Japan’s imports from Vietnam rose tenfold over the last ten year, reports the same source.
Nikkei Asian Review also cited the proximity of Vietnam to Japan as an advantage for Vietnam in the Japanese market, noting that shipping from Vietnam or other regional producers takes only about half as long as Arabica coming from Latin America. And among Southeast Asian coffee producers, Vietnam’s larger production base offers a more stable supply than, for example, Indonesia.
In addition, Vietnam will benefit from a market increasingly polarised on the high and low-end segments even though Japanese demand for Arabica coffee remains solid, Vietnam will be a beneficiary of a market increasingly polarized on the high- and low-end segments, Shiro Ozawa, an adviser for Tokyo-based specialty coffee trader Wataru and Co. was quoted as saying by Nikkei Asian Review.-VNA
