Instant coffee’s bitter aftertaste

The processing capacity of raw coffee has exceeded demand, according to a newly released coffee processing and storage system draft planning to 2020 with orientations towards 2030.

Specifically in 2011, the total designed capacity of 97 coffee bean processing enterprises is 1.503 million tonnes per year against 1.2 million tonne demand in 2011.

Meanwhile, ground coffee total designed capacity is 51,664 tonnes per year against actual capacity of only 50.51 per cent. Vinacafe Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company just run at 2.63 per cent of its designed capacity and many member companies worked only one shift in 30 days per year.

Therefore, experts said new enterprises should not come on board and existing plants’ designed capacity should not be hiked during the period from now to 2020. Instead, firms had better invest in making instant coffee on the back of available materials and ever-increasing demand in the domestic market as well as in other emerging countries. This will enhance the added values of Vietnamese coffee.

Nevertheless, Thang Loi Dak Lak Coffee director Nguyen Xuan Thai said the building an instant coffee processing plant was very costly whereas consumption was unclear. High bank interest rates were also a deterrent.

In short, without government support the target of producing instant coffee to improve Vietnamese coffee added value would be hard to achieve. 

There were several instant coffee processing companies in the country by the end of 2011 such as An Thai Company, Vinacafe Bien Hoa Joint Stock Company, G7 Instant Coffee Joint Stock Company and India-backed OLAM Company.

Coffee processing and storage survey in 2011

(Source: Statistics from local departments of Industry and Trade and enterprises)