Vietnam exported 1.1 million tonnes of coffee in 2009, an increase of 40,000 tonnes over 2008. Last month alone, the industry exported 130,000 tonnes worth US$182 million, an increase of 200 percent over the same month of 2008.

Rising exports have not, however, meant increased income to exporters as a glut in supply saw average export prices fall to $1,478 per tonne between January-October 2009, down by $615 from a year earlier. Last year’s turnover also dropped to $1.7 billion from $2.1 billion in 2008.

Exporters have failed to halt falling prices in the world market despite controlling the largest exports of Robusta coffee in the world.

“To solve the problem, the association has proposed that the government set a fund supporting Vietnamese coffee exporters…so that they would be able to buy and store coffee from farmers” said Luong Van Tu, chairman of the association.

He also affirmed that this was not a stimulus fund but rather a preferential policy for an agricultural product which he described as similar to the government priorities given to rice exports.