VNBusinessNews - Coffee growers in Central Highland provinces are selling their crops before they have ripened, prompting fears of quality problems.
The growers are selling to small traders before the crops have ripened in fear the price will fall at harvest time as it did last year.
The trend has brought a warning from authorities that early picking will cause deterioration of ripened beans and preservation problems down the track.
Among those who have pre-sold their coffee crop is K’Dang Commune resident Vo Thi Thanh, who has a 3-ha coffee plantation.
“My family needs money and I’m afraid the price of coffee will fluctuate abnormally like last year,” she said.
Thanh said her plantation in the Dak Doa District of Gia Lai Province was well-cared with proper cultivation for the past 10 years, producing a good yield of 15-16 tonnes of coffee bean per hectare.
However, small traders told her the plantation would only yield 13-14 tonnes a hectare this year and persuaded her to sell the whole crop at VND4,400 (US$0.25) per kg.
“I sold all the plantation so that I do not have to be worried if the coffee price is low during the coming harvest,” she said.
The trader paid her 80 per cent of the money in advance.
Thanh is not the only one who fears a low price. Many other growers in the Central Highlands areas, where mostly coffee is grown, are selling before harvesting, including Dak Lak Province grower Ngo Thanh Hung.
“Though I feel quite pity when selling the coffee plantation so soon, I still have to because last year the price went down sharply and I lost a huge amount,” said Hung who lives in Hoa Dong Commune of Krong Pac District.
“I don’t want that to happen again.”
However, if early selling meant early harvesting it was going to cause quality problems, Gia Lai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s vice director Le Van Linh said.
“When farmers pluck all their coffee plantation too early, the preservation process is affected because raw and ripe coffee are mixed together,” Linh said.
“Moreover, growers may suffer huge losses if they sell too early because the prices ares not as high as when coffee has completely ripened.”
Viet Nam Coffee Company general director Do Van Nam said his firm had asked the Government to give it a preferential interest rate so it could borrow to buy coffee in advance from growers with about 70 per cent of the total payment.
However, in Dak Ha District of Kon Tum Province, the issue does not arise because the district’s People’s Committee prevents coffee being harvested before it is 90 per cent ripe, thus shutting out the small trader.
Also, only processed coffee may be transported out the district.
Dak Ha District has more than 7,000ha of coffee with the total output of 66,000 tonnes to 67,000 tonnes of raw coffee per year. (VNS)
