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Last Updated: Friday, November 21, 2008 13:18:00 Vietnam (GMT+07)

Vietnamese coffee needs a brand new perception
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To many people, including expatriates, Vietnamese coffee tastes the best. But ask someone outside the country about Vietnamese coffee and you will receive a shrug. Give me a brand name, she or he are likely to ask.


So there’s the moment of truth. Few local coffee brands are known outside the country, although Vietnam is known as a major exporter of coffee beans.

Some good news came last week. Trung Nguyen, a famous Vietnamese coffee brand, has just added another outlet in Singapore. Its second coffee shop is located in the famous Liang Court shopping mall. The first shop, by the way, is in the Changi Airport.
Founder and General Director of Trung Nguyen, Dang Le Nguyen Vu, says the firm plans to open two more shops in Singapore in next year’s first quarter, one in the Marina Square shopping mall and the other at Changi Airport’s second terminal. The long term plan? Eighteen shops in the lion city, Vu says.

Given the low quality profile of Vietnam’s processed coffee products, Vu’s plan may sound far-fetched. But he believes Vietnamese coffee has its “unique quality and characteristics” that outshines some other famous international brands, thanks partly to the mineral-rich basalt soil of the Central Highlands, the nation’s premier coffee growing region.

He may be right. The new Trung Nguyen outlet has attracted many shoppers even though it officially opened only on Wednesday.

But Trung Nguyen alone is not enough to change the perception of Vietnam as just an exporter of raw coffee beans.

“Very few domestically processed coffee products are exported,” says Luong Van Tu, chairman of Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA).

In fact, Vietnam imports coffee products – US$7.3 million worth of it in the first eight months, according to the General Customs Office.

There is plenty of evidence that the reliance on coffee bean exports has made Vietnamese farmers and traders very vulnerable to world price fluctuations.

The plans seem to be in place. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has said processed coffee production should go up to 15,000 tons a year by 2015, about half of which will be exported.

For this to happen, the local coffee industry must focus on improving its processing capacity and bring more variety to its coffee products. And lest we forget, work toward creating a few recognized brands.

By Thuc Minh – Quang Thuan