Hanoi (VNA)ꩵ – With 652,000 tonnes of coffee exported to the EU worth 1.66 billion USD in 2023,Vietnam was the second biggest coffee supplier of the EU in terms of volume and third largest supplier in terms of value.

Even though the EU's coffee import in 2023 dropped by 9% in volume and 10.2% in value from 2022, Vietnamese coffee exports tothis market decreased only slightly, by 1.4% in volume and 0.02% in value. Therefore, Vietnam's share in the EU’s total coffee imports increased from 14.85% in 2022 to 16.08% in 2023. Currently, Vietnamese coffee prices have exceeded 100,000 VND (around 4 USD at current exchange) per kg - the highest price ever. Nguyen Nam Hai, Chairman of the VietnamCoffee and Cocoa Association, said that Vietnam is the largest Robustacoffee-producing country in the world. Roasters around the world still havehigh demand and are looking for suppliers from Vietnam. In particular, Europe still has a highdemand for coffee while Vietnam is almost the only one supplier, at least fromnow until the end of April 2024. “From January to the end of April, if EUimporters want to buy Robusta coffee, they can only rely on Vietnam becauseother coffee growing regions in the world have not entered harvestseason," a representative from a coffee business told online newspaperVietnamnet.  Now, local enterprises areconsidering carefully the time to sign supply contracts because of limited supplyand high prices. According to export businesses,Vietnamese Robusta coffee has a relatively solid and irreplaceable position inthe world market. Despite the supply shortage, Vietnamese coffee is stillsought after by foreign roasters. This provides the basis and room for coffeeexport prices to continue to increase. Trade associations and businesses predictedthat because supply has decreased significantly, both farmers and businesseswill run out of coffee stocks by the end of April. The phenomenon has never happened in thepast 30 years in the Vietnamese coffee industry. According to the European CoffeeFederation, the EU has the highest per capita coffee consumption in the world.Its coffee market is expected to reach 47.88 billion USD in 2024 and 58.14billion USD in 2029, an average growth of 3.96% in the 2024-2029 period./.