Billion dollar seeds have record high prices, worried about losing trillions when picking green fruits

Clean out the export warehouse

Mr. Phan Minh Thong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Phuc Sinh Joint Stock Company recently informed that the coffee industry has never been in a situation of running out of goods to sell for export like this time. Coffee prices at one time reached a record level of 71,000 VND/kg, the highest in the past 30 years.

According to Mr. Thong, the world depends on Vietnamese coffee – the second largest global supply source. However, Vietnam lost its coffee crop, causing scarce supply and pushing prices up.

Statistics from the General Department of Customs, in October 2023, Vietnam’s average coffee export price continued to set a new record when reaching 3,603 USD/ton, an increase of 8.9% compared to the previous month and an increase of 40,000 USD/ton. 7% compared to October 2022.

In the 10 months of this year, the average export price of our country’s coffee reached 2,535 USD/ton, up 10.6% over the same period last year.

In the early days of November, Robusta and Arabica coffee prices continued to increase compared to the end of October 2023 due to concerns about supply shortages and inventory reports continuing to decrease. Notably, the price of Robusta coffee (a type of coffee commonly grown in our country) is forecast to increase because of scarce supply, while demand increases at the end of the year.

Reported from Santos port (Brazil), export volume in September 2023 only reached 76% compared to the same period last year. The market fears this delay could last until the end of this year, forcing roasters to increase purchases of available goods on exchanges.

According to data from the General Department of Customs, Vietnam’s coffee exports were at a record low in October, reaching only 43,720 tons, worth about 157.6 million USD. Compared to the same month last year, coffee exports dropped sharply by 48.8% in volume and 28% in value. This also shows that the amount of crop products in our country is still insignificant for export.

At this time, the coffee “capital” of the Central Highlands is beginning to harvest, purchasing prices tend to increase, fluctuating between 58,000-59,000 VND/kg. Mr. Nguyen Van Tao in Dak Mil (Dak Nong) calculated that coffee prices are as high as they are now, farmers are making big profits.

Last season, his family’s replanted coffee yield reached 6 tons/ha. With a price of 55,000-60,000 VND/kg, he earned about 2 billion VND from 6 hectares of coffee. Meanwhile, replanted coffee only needs to be sold for 30,000 VND/kg to make a slight profit. Therefore, this year Mr. Tao made a profit of billions from coffee trees after deducting production costs.

However, in some localities, there is a situation where people harvest green coffee to sell when prices are at record highs.

In Lam Ha district (Lam Dong), businesses in the district reported that farmers harvesting green coffee cherries to sell to processing facilities is still happening, especially with the proportion of green coffee berries accounting for 40-50%. %. This will seriously affect the quality of green coffee.

Lam Ha District People’s Committee immediately issued recommendations and instructions to people, businesses, and coffee purchasing and processing establishments on harvesting and purchasing standard coffee, ensuring maturity in order to increase the quality of coffee. High quality coffee.

The authorities of Dak Ha district (Kon Tum) also recently recommended and corrected the situation of harvesting unripe coffee to sell to traders.

Picking green fruit will cost trillions

Exchange with Reporter.VietNamNetMr. Doan Huu Tue, General Director of My Viet International Group Joint Stock Company (a coffee production and export enterprise), said that when harvesting, the ratio of green to ripe fruit will determine the quality of coffee beans. .

In the past, people harvested a high percentage of green cherries, so Vietnamese coffee was considered low quality and the selling price was not high. In recent years, businesses associated with coffee farmers often specify that the ripe fruit ratio when harvested must be above 90%. The purchasing price also depends on the high or low ripeness rate of the fruit.

“Harvesting coffee with a high proportion of green berries will affect the quality, and farmers will also suffer losses due to large weight loss,” he said.

Mr. Doan Manh Trinh – Deputy Director of Tam Trinh Coffee Import-Export Company admitted that there is a situation where coffee is picked too green at the beginning of the season in Lam Dong in the 2023-2024 crop year. According to him, harvesting coffee with a high percentage of green cherries causes great damage to people and the local coffee brand.

If the rate of picking is 60% green and 40% ripe, the weight is reduced by about 20%; The ratio of 30% green fruit and 70% ripe fruit reduces the weight by about 15%.

Lam Ha district has nearly 40,000 hectares of coffee, with an estimated output of about 150,000 tons. When the coffee price was at 35,000 VND/kg, he calculated that if 30% of green beans were harvested, the amount of coffee lost would be about 22,000 tons, and people would lose about 800 billion VND.

Currently, the price is up to 57,000 VND/kg, coffee farmers can lose about 1,200 billion VND, he emphasized.

According to Mr. Trinh, at the beginning of the harvest season, purchasing facilities with coffee dryers must take 5-5.1kg of fresh coffee to produce 1kg of green coffee. In the middle and end of the season, only 4-4.2kg of fresh coffee is needed to produce 1kg of green coffee because the coffee is evenly ripened.

Mr. Nguyen Nhu Cuong – Director of the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) commented that maybe because coffee prices are high, people are harvesting early (when the fruit is not yet ripe) to avoid theft, especially in Coffee fields are far from residential areas and difficult to protect.

However, harvesting coffee that is too green will also affect product quality.

To ensure coffee quality, the Department of Crop Production has issued many guiding documents on harvesting coffee at the right time and with the right technique for each type of coffee. Accordingly, harvested coffee has a ripe fruit rate of 90% or more (including yellow and red ripe fruit) and an impurity rate of no more than 2%. At the end of the season, the ripe fruit rate reached over 80%, Mr. Cuong said.

Vietnamese coffee is ‘out of stock’ for export despite record high pricesIn August, coffee export prices reached a record high of 3,054 USD/ton. In the domestic market, this commodity also reached a historic peak in price. The business said that the coffee industry has never been in a situation where there is no more product to sell like it is now.