Foreign firms earn $420 mln from Q1 coffee exports

Foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in Vietnam earned $419.8 million from exporting coffee in the first quarter of this year, up 3.7% year-on-year, according to customs data.

In the period, Vietnam gained $1.23 billion from exporting 552,613 tons of coffee, down 5.4% and 5% year-on-year, respectively. As a result, FIEs accounted for 34% of the export value, an improvement from 31% in Q1/2022.

Customs authorities attributed the development to FIEs’ strong financial power, which helped them stockpile coffee even when prices were consistently high, and then sell their products when domestic firms faced shortages. Similar developments also occurred in the 2021-2022 crop, when domestic firms faced shortages in July-September.

Vietnam’s coffee prices were quoted at VND48,600-VND49,000 ($2.02-$2.04) per kilogram in Q1 this year, up 17% year-on-year, according to the Vietnam Coffee-Cocoa Association (VICOFA). Meanwhile, average export prices inched down 0.3% to $2,222 per ton.

The coffee output in Vietnam in the 2022-2023 crop is estimated to drop 10-15% year-on-year to 1.47 million tons, according to the VICOFA. The association attributed the fall to farmers switching to other plants, lesser use of fertilizers owing to higher prices, and unfavorable cold and rainy weather conditions.