In recent months, the price of fresh cocoa has surged, reaching 12,000 VND per kg (0.48 USD) for fresh pods, three to four times higher than in previous years.

About 25 km from the centre of My Tho city in Tien Giang province, the Alluvia Chocolatier is an attractive and popular destination, especially for children, and where visitors can not only explore the journey of transforming cocoa beans into pure and fresh Vietnamese chocolate but also enjoy products that are a source of pride for local people.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau’s economic growth engine has long been identified as tourism and industry rather than agriculture, but the latter has increasingly affirmed its role in the provincial economy.

The retail sales and service revenue in Ho Chi Minh City reached more than 94.91 trillion VND (4.07 billion USD) in April, up 2.3 percent from the previous month.

Vietnam has become the second Asian country to achieve a fine flavour cocoa (FFC) designation from the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO).

The southeastern province of Binh Phuoc, the country’s largest cashew producer, plans to intercrop cocoa with a total of 50,000 ha of cashew trees in an aim to raise farmers’ incomes.

A company in Dinh Quan district, in the southern province of Dong Nai, has recently exported 12 tonnes of cocoa mass to the Republic of Korea and one ton of chocolate to Japan.

Vietnam’s cocoa sector should aim its sights at the premium chocolate market, the director of the Internatioanl Cocoa Organisation’s (ICCO) economics and statistics division has urged.

Despite some encouraging results, Vietnam's cocoa sector has not enjoyed stable development in the past decade, a review meeting heard in HCM City on July 28.