From WIRE REPORTS
Most Vietnamese coffee farmers have never heard of a double tall skinny latte, but they could tell you the price of the beans that go into one in their sleep.
From hi-tech Israeli irrigation systems to text message updates of global prices for the commodity, coffee farming in Viet Nam’s Central Highlands has come a long way since the French first introduced the bean over a century ago.
“I used to carry my coffee to market by bicycle,” said 44-year-old farmer Ama Diem. “Now I check the bean price on my mobile phones” before making the trip.
By texting “CA” to the number 8288 from any Vietnamese mobile phone, farmers almost instantly receive a message with the London prices of robusta coffee beans and the New York price of arabica beans from a data supply firm.
Farmers are only too aware that the price of coffee – the second-most traded commodity in the world after oil – can move quickly.
“We only take the coffee to market when we can be sure of getting a high price,” Diem told a reporter at his plantation outside Viet Nam’s coffee capital Buon Ma Thuot. “We check the price a lot.”
Vietnamese coffee farmers have changed the global market; if you had a cup this morning, there is a high chance you consumed at least some Vietnamese beans, with companies such as Nestle and Britain’s Costa Coffee among major buyers.
In 20 years, Viet Nam went from contributing less than 0.1 percent of world production in 1980 to some 13 percent in 2000 – staggering growth that has been partially blamed for the collapse of global coffee prices in the 1990s.
Viet Nam is now the world’s second-largest coffee producer, but it is seen as high volume rather than high quality. Its bitter-tasting robusta wins few accolades internationally and is mostly exported as raw beans.
“Viet Nam is an amazing phenomenon,” said Jonathan Clark, general director of coffee exporter Dakman.
He said exports “shot up” last year to nearly rival Brazil, the world’s top exporter and producer.
Last year, Viet Nam exported 1.73 million tons of coffee, worth some $3.67 billion and accounting for more than 50 percent of the world’s robusta, which is used in instant coffee or other blends.
Putting Viet Nam’s robusta on the map
Coffee consumption in Asia is on the rise and roasters are eyeing the low-cost country – where there is no tax on coffee exports – to set up operations to boost their regional presence, Clark said.
As consumption volumes have stagnated in the west, Viet Nam, with its growing middle class and long standing love of coffee, is full of “tremendous opportunities,” said Jinlong Wang, president of Starbucks Asia Pacific.
Starbucks – which opened its first store in southern Sai Gon in February – says it could open hundreds more in the near future in Viet Nam, which it describes as a “dynamic, exciting” market.
The country’s volcanic soil is perfect for growing coffee, and while global coffee drinkers are more used to arabica – which has 1.5 percent caffeine – they should wake up and smell the joys of 2.5 percent strength robusta, according to Dang Le Nguyen Vu, Viet Nam’s “coffee king.”
The founder of home-grown coffee giant Trung Nguyen ― which has 55 stores in Viet Nam and five in Singapore ― is passionate about putting Viet Nam’s robusta coffee on the map.
“Robusta is not lower quality. It’s just that globally, people have learned to drink arabica coffee,” Vu said at the Trung Nguyen Village in Buon Ma Thuot.
A big part of the company’s work is to improve the quality of local beans, working with farmers to introduce hi-tech irrigation, reduce pesticide use and boost their income.
Trung Nguyen already exports to 60 countries, and Vu said Starbucks’ recent arrival in his homeland had increased his determination to open cafés in the United States offering Viet Nam’s traditional style of thick, strong coffee brewed in individual drip filters.
“We must be able to surpass Starbucks. We must offer something more attractive for U.S. consumers,” Vu said. “I want the world to understand that Vietnamese coffee is the best, the cleanest, most special coffee.”
