Farmers harvest coffee in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk. — Photo nld.com.vn

ĐẮK LẮK — Coffee exporting enterprises and authorities need to build an ecosystem to effectively utilise free trade agreements (FTAs) to develop the industry, experts have said.

Speaking at a seminar on utilising FTAs to sustainably develop the industry in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk on Wednesday, Deputy Director of the local Department of Industry and Trade, Nguyễn Văn Nhiệm said last year the province exported nearly 320,000 tonnes of coffee to more than 70 countries and territories worth US$747 million, or 18.3 per cent of the country's total.

In the first half of 2024 exports topped $600 million. But the exports are mainly of raw coffee, with the rate of processed items barely increasing year after year. This means the added value is not high, he said.

It is necessary to build a ecosystem that would help the country’s coffee sector adapt well to the changing socio-economic situation, climate change, natural disasters, and extreme weather and respond well to new policies and regulations on food hygiene and safety and anti-deforestation in markets like the EU, experts said.

Coffee exporters need to embrace digital transformation and enhance co-operation and investment between themselves and co-operatives for creating standardised raw material areas to improve quality to meet export needs, they added. — VNS