Its exports of 1.7 million tonnes and the realisation represented increases of 23 per cent and 24 per cent compared to 2010/2011, but were far below potential, according to industry insiders at a conference held yesterday at the sideline of the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival.

Y Dham Enuol, vice chairman of Dak Lak, the country's most important coffee-growing province, said the area under the crop, of around 500,000ha, is stable and farming techniques have improved.

"Unlike their passive trading in the past, coffee growers now decide the price and the time to sell their produce."

Besides, coffee growers now co-operate with each other to form larger fields, which helps them boost productivity.

The secretary general of Viet Nam Coffee Cocoa Association (Vicofa), Nguyen Viet Vinh, said the quality of coffee, especially robusta beans, is vital for success in the world market.

Vietnamese robusta has a distinctive flavour, yet its price is lower than coffee sold by some other countries.

"The percentage of robusta used in the production of instant coffee has increased from 30 per cent to 40 per cent, which is an advantage to Viet Nam coffee exporters," he pointed out.

Vicofa data shows that Viet Nam's robusta exports doubled from 2009 to 50,000 tonnes in 2011.

According to industry insiders, in addition to their bumper crops, exporters have also benefited from relatively low-interest loans in foreign currencies from banks.

In the past, high interest dong loans put Viet Nam's exporters at a disadvantage on the global market.

Dang Le Nguyen Vu, general director of country's biggest coffee company, Trung Nguyen, lamented Viet Nam's low share of the global export market.

"We should think about it, seriously," he said.

He said demand for coffee exceeds supply, especially in developed countries where annual demand is 5kg per capita.

"That is why we should consider whether to keep the existing area of coffee or increase it."

He said coffee growers should also apply modern irrigation technologies which require less water than traditional methods.

According to the General Statistics Office, the country exported 415,000 tonnes of coffee in the first two months for US$884 million, a year-on-year increase of 38.1 per cent in value.

It attributed the jump also to rising export prices, which hit an average of $2,130 per tonne, up 5 per cent year-on-year.

But in February exports fell to 196,000 tonnes, a 54.3 per cent fall from the previous month due to the worst drought in 10 years in the Central Highlands.

Plantations in the Central Highlands are demanding a second watering of the crop, but rivers, lakes, and ponds in the region are getting drier.

The groundwater level is now four to five meters lower than that in 2006, and half of the coffee crop faces a shortage of water.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, coffee has become the country's second largest agricultural export commodity.

Vietnamnet