Vietnam’s coffee industry turns bitter
The fall in global coffee prices, mismanagement and piling bank debts of producers have put a strong burden on Vietnam’s coffee sector.
The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association said exporters in the country, the world’s biggest robusta producer, have bad and overdue bank debts of $298.65 million, with many exporters “facing the threat of bankruptcy”
From January to June 2013, the sector exported only 795,000 tonnes, down 24 per cent over the same period in 2012. Revenues fell 22 per cent to $1.7 billion, the association said.
Domestic robusta prices fell to $1,740 a tonne on June 14, the lowest in 16 months, according to the Promotion Center for Trade, Investment and Tourism in Dak Lak Province, the nation’s main growing region. Last year 43 coffee exporters in Dak Lak alone defaulted on bank loans, the province’s Department of Industry and Trade said.
The coffee association now has proposed to the government a programme to lend to exporters at low interest rates that would help them hold on to 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes of coffee and wait for prices to recover. The volume represents a fifth of the expected output in 2013-14.
The fall in global coffee prices, mismanagement and piling bank debts of producers have put a strong burden on Vietnam's coffee sector. The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association said exporters in the country, the world's biggest robusta producer, have bad and overdue bank debts of $298.65 million, with many exporters "facing the threat of bankruptcy" From January to June 2013, the sector exported only 795,000 tonnes, down 24 per cent over the same period in 2012. Revenues fell 22 per cent to $1.7 billion, the association said. Domestic robusta prices fell to $1,740 a tonne on June 14, the lowest...
The fall in global coffee prices, mismanagement and piling bank debts of producers have put a strong burden on Vietnam’s coffee sector.
The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association said exporters in the country, the world’s biggest robusta producer, have bad and overdue bank debts of $298.65 million, with many exporters “facing the threat of bankruptcy”
From January to June 2013, the sector exported only 795,000 tonnes, down 24 per cent over the same period in 2012. Revenues fell 22 per cent to $1.7 billion, the association said.
Domestic robusta prices fell to $1,740 a tonne on June 14, the lowest in 16 months, according to the Promotion Center for Trade, Investment and Tourism in Dak Lak Province, the nation’s main growing region. Last year 43 coffee exporters in Dak Lak alone defaulted on bank loans, the province’s Department of Industry and Trade said.
The coffee association now has proposed to the government a programme to lend to exporters at low interest rates that would help them hold on to 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes of coffee and wait for prices to recover. The volume represents a fifth of the expected output in 2013-14.
