National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ and delegates take part in the traditional xoè dances at the opening ceremony for the Sơn La Coffee Festival. — VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn

SƠN LA — The first Sơn La Coffee Festival opened in Sơn La City of the northern mountainous province with the same name on October 20, with the presence of National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ.

Nguyễn Hữu Đông, Secretary of the provincial Party’s Committee, said the festival is an important event designed for Sơn La and other northwestern provinces to introduce their Arabica coffee and honour coffee growers, processors and  traders, contributing to promoting the value and the position of Sơn La Arabica coffee in domestic and foreign markets. 

The cultivation of Arabica coffee in Sơn La began in the late 1980s, and the area under the plant expanded from 278ha in 1990 to over 20,000 ha in 2023, accounting for 41.2 per cent of the country’s Arabia coffee cultivation area. Of which, 18,000 ha have obtained sustainable farming certification. Sơn La coffee has been exported to 20 countries in the European Union, North America, the Middle East and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Addressing the event, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Lê Minh Hoan emphasised the importance of cooperation and linkage in developing a sustainable value chain for the coffee industry in Sơn La.

The festival with the theme of "Arabica, Sơn La Coffee - flavour of the northwest mountains and forests" will last until October 23.

It features a coffee gala, a farmers’ competition, a trade fair, the inauguration of investment projects in the coffee sector and Cascara tea production lines in Mai Sơn District, and a conference on coffee trade connections. — VNS