A farmer harvests pepper. — Photo congthuong.vn

Vietnamese coffee and pepper increasingly popular in Australian market

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese coffee and pepper are becoming more popular globally, and especially in the Australian market.

Nguyễn Phú Hòa, Deputy Consul General and Head of the Việt Nam Trade Commission in Australia, said that the country was not a large coffee producer, but was a large coffee market.

It is expected that Australia would consume an average of 2 kilos of coffee per person per year this year. This consumption level is lower compared to European countries, but still in the top 30 coffee consuming countries in the world.

Australians are also very strict in their choice of food and drink, their common preference is to drink European-flavoured coffee, so they import a lot of processed coffee from Europe.

However, young people in Australia have been keen to try new products in recent years, so coffee infused with other flavours has also begun to be consumed strongly in Australia.

Vietnamese coffee exports to Australia have increased sharply in the last two months, up 41 per cent in September compared to August.

The Australian Trade Commission also forecast that the demand for coffee and the improvement of supply from Việt Nam would rise from now until the end of the year, therefore, the consumption of coffee in this market would also grow.

Similar to coffee, Australia is not a pepper producer. The country is a large pepper import market annually with a growth rate of about 2.5 per cent per year.

Australia imports pepper from many countries around the world, mainly from Việt Nam, India, China, Italy, and Indonesia.

Việt Nam has become the largest pepper exporter to Australia with a proportion of 50-60 per cent. Notably, Vietnamese pepper has an increasingly large position in this market.

Vietnamese pepper export turnover to Australia reached 2,630 tonnes last year, up 30.47 per cent over the same period last year.

Pepper imports from Việt Nam to Australia also grew very strongly in the first seven months of the year.

Hòa forecast that pepper importers from Việt Nam to this market would continue to be promoted from now until the end of the year.

Especially, in the current trend, the import of agricultural products as well as goods from Việt Nam to Australia continues to increase.

The level of trust and prestige of Vietnamese goods in Australia was rising, this was a great opportunity for Việt Nam to boost coffee and pepper exports to this market, said Hòa.

In order to promote coffee and pepper exports to the Australian market, besides trade promotion activities in the form of online trade connection, promotion through consumer experience is also promoted by the agencies and recommended by experts.

Along with promoting products at fairs, Hòa said the trade commission was currently working with a number of large distribution systems, stores, and especially young people in Western Australia.

The trade commission hoped that they could co-ordinate to establish a Vietnamese coffee experience centre in the Western Australia region. With that, promotion will spread.

In addition, the promotion of coffee and pepper will be done through the Vietnamese business community in Australia so that coffee and pepper could enter the restaurant system of Vietnamese businesses in Australia.

“Currently, the Vietnamese community in Australia has more than 300,000 people. Therefore, if Vietnamese farm produce go into the restaurant system of businesses in Australia, the brand promotion will be spread," said Hòa.

There were many small Vietnamese restaurants in Australia, but there was no presence of Vietnamese coffee there, he added. If we had instant, fast, and convenient coffee products, small restaurants would not have to spend too much time in processing, Vietnamese coffee would be promoted more deeply with the Vietnamese community in Australia.

Similar to pepper, the trade commission is also running a programme to promote consumption of Vietnamese spices associated with Vietnamese restaurant systems in Australia. Accordingly, the two sides pledged to jointly promote the promotion of Vietnamese farm produce and spices, in which, for pepper, more than 10 restaurants have agreed to participate.

“For frozen ginger, we find that demand in Australia is increasing strongly. Therefore, we have included frozen ginger products in the promotion programme. Besides that, we also boosted promotion on social media. After 10 months, the export of Vietnamese ginger to the Australian market has grown very strongly, reaching more than 100 per cent," added Hòa.

Besides, it is possible to promote the goods at community sports tournaments.

Although the market is considered to be very large, Australia is a very demanding market.

According to experts, with the impressive growth in the volume of goods and agricultural products exported to the Australian market, the country is becoming a potential market for Vietnamese businesses.

However, in order to expand export opportunities to the largest market in Oceania, businesses needed to grasp customer tastes, improve quality and build a solid brand name for products and goods, recommended experts. — VNS