When U.S. President George W. Bush attended November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Forum in Hanoi, Vietnam, chances are good he was offered coffee brewed from Vietnamese coffee beans. One hopes the coffee was not brewed from the Vietnamese coffee beans rejected by the world’s coffee buyers between October 2005 and March 2006. During that period, 88% of all the coffee rejected came from Vietnam.
And on November 24, 2006, the Vietnamese General Statistics Office reported that their October and November exports had fallen 27%.
Up until the late 2005/early 2006 beans hit the market, U.S and European buyers had prized Vietnam coffee for its quality, and demand had lifted Vietnam to second position among the world’s coffee exporters, trailing only Brazil and in a virtual dead heat with Colombia.
And Vietnam was the world’s leading exporter of robusta beans, grown for their high caffeine content. What happened?
During the period in question, the price for ripe and green coffee beans was the same. So farmers had no incentive to use labor to separate the two. They also feared that if they waited for the beans to dry properly, their harvest would be delayed. Improperly dried beans are of inferior quality.
In an attempt to stem further damage to Vietnam’s reputation as a coffee supplier, Diep Kinh Tan, its Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development encouraged the coffee farmers to bring their growing practices in line with the hygiene and quality control regulations of the World trade Organization, which Vietnam will join at the end of 2006.
Diep’s Ministry has overseen quality control improvements in Vietnam’s Central highlands, where over 90% of its coffee is grown.
The authorities in each of the Highland provinces will introduce new harvesting techniques, and each province will have a unique model for its coffee bean harvesting and processing.
But the Ministry also recommends that, just in case there are growers who still want to do things the easy way, all coffee intended for the export markets be subjected to thorough examination before it leaves the country.
Given the continuing export decline, it may be too little, too late.
