Cartel to prop up prices of coffee

Farmers pick coffee beans in a garden in Huong Hoa District, central Quang Tri Province. Banks are encouraged to lend money to enterprises to buy coffee surpluses. — VNA/VNS Photo Ho Cau

HA NOI (VNS)— On the eve of this year's coffee harvest, Viet Nam Coffee and Cacao Association is urging banks to once again provide credit to buy up crop surpluses.

This year's coffee harvest began yesterday, and the coffee growers group has already proposed buying 300,000 tonnes of the 2012-13 coffee for temporary stockpiles, an increase of 200,000 tonnes over last year.

Last year, the association partnered successfully with Agribank, Techcombank and Military Bank to finance purchases of about VND16 trillion (US$761.9 million) aimed at maintaining the stability of coffee prices on the market and regulating export volumes, the association said. Meanwhile, the association has also been encouraging enterprises in good financial condition to use excess capital to temporarily buy up coffee.

The association was also calling on the Government to establish a fund to regulate coffee supplies and advising farmers to avoid flooding the market and depressing prices by selling off large volumes.

Viet Nam Coffee Club general secretary Nguyen Nam Hai said local traders were competing with foreign rivals to purchase coffee for processing and export. Co-operation with farmers was therefore essential to developing strong working relationships and ensuring there were sufficient supplies of raw materials for processing, he said.

Meanwhile, coffee exports were expected to reach a record of 1.6 million tonnes this year, a year-on-year increase of 400,000 tonnes, due to increase in the world market demand, the Viet Nam Coffee and Cacao Association said.

Exports in the first nine months of this year totalled 1.36 million tonnes and earned $2.85 billion, a year-on-year increase of 36.8 per cent in volume and around 30 per cent in value.

During that period, the two leading export markets for Vietnamese coffee, the US and Germany, saw increases in terms of both volume and value, but exports to Belgium, another leading export markets, fell by half against the same period last year.

By August, Viet Nam remained the world's largest exporter of coffee, the association said. — VNS