Opportunity to replant coffee trees

New coffee garden planted in 2024 by farmers in Lam San commune, Cam My district. Photo: B.Nguyen

According to the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA), 2024 is an unprecedented year in the history of Vietnamese coffee as well as world coffee, especially in terms of coffee prices. Vietnamese coffee prices are high, many farmers are returning to invest in coffee cultivation with the belief that this crop will bring high profits with stable output.

Export record thanks to price increase

In 2024, Vietnam exported 1.32 million tons of coffee, down 18.8% in volume compared to the previous year, but the value reached 5.48 billion USD, up 29.1%. This is the first time in the history of the Vietnamese coffee industry that coffee export turnover has exceeded 5 billion USD/year. Coffee has become the third agricultural product to achieve an export turnover of over 5 billion USD, after vegetables and rice.

In many provinces, farmers grow a lot of coffee, causing the price of coffee seedlings to increase. Specifically, before the Lunar New Year 2025, the price of a coffee seedling was nearly 3,000 VND, but now it has increased to more than 10,000 VND/tree. Grafted seedlings that grow faster for harvest are sold for up to 25-30,000 VND/tree.

Coffee is still the main crop that will be focused on development in the coming period. According to the Coffee Replanting Project for the period 2021-2025 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment , the goal is to replant and graft nearly 110,000 hectares of coffee nationwide, of which 75,000 hectares will be replanted and 32,000 hectares will be grafted and renovated. The goal of increasing coffee acreage is not only focused on the Central Highlands provinces, but also expanded to other provinces such as Son La, Dien Bien, Quang Tri, Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Ba Ria - Vung Tau.

Although Dong Nai 's coffee acreage is lower than many other provinces and cities specializing in coffee growing, many businesses choose Dong Nai as the location to set up warehouses, factories for preliminary processing and deep processing of coffee for export. Therefore, Dong Nai has become one of the "coffee capitals" of the Southern region. In 2024, Dong Nai's coffee export turnover will reach nearly 912.7 million USD, an increase of 33.13% compared to 2023, accounting for nearly 17% of Vietnam's total coffee export turnover.

Coffee tree "reigns"

Currently, the price of raw coffee beans is nearly 130,000 VND/kg, and selected coffee beans are up to 150,000 VND/kg. At this price, growing coffee is highly profitable, so many farmers are returning to replant this crop.

By the end of 2024, the total coffee area in the province will reach 6,000 hectares, an increase of nearly 200 hectares compared to the end of 2023. Coffee output will reach 15,000 tons/year. Coffee is still the main crop that the province is interested in developing in the coming time.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quyet (residing in Xuan Bac commune, Xuan Loc district) has 2 hectares of jackfruit trees. From 2024, he decided to cut down diseased and low-yielding jackfruit trees to intercrop coffee trees. According to Mr. Quyet: “After a period of growing fruit trees, I found that the output of fruit trees is much more unstable than industrial trees such as coffee and pepper, which can be preserved and stored for years after harvest. On the other hand, with an area of ​​2 hectares of jackfruit, each year the gardener has to spend more than 200 million VND on fertilizer and pesticides, while taking care of coffee trees only costs a few tens of million VND/hectare”.

Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Lam San Commune (Cam My District) Truong Dinh Ba commented that this area has suitable soil for growing pepper and coffee. Accordingly, the locality has many farmers with rich experience in caring for these crops. In the previous period, coffee prices fell sharply, there was no profit so farmers cut down these crops. Since last year until now, coffee prices have continuously increased so many farmers have invested in replanting coffee trees. Farmers have invested in new high-quality varieties and taken care of them so the newly invested coffee gardens all have high yields and good quality.

Director of Tran Minh Agricultural Products Company Limited (Phu Tan Commune, Dinh Quan District) Tran A Sang compared that in 2023, the facility purchased more than 600 tons of coffee; in 2024, it decreased by more than half. From the beginning of 2025 until now, the purchased coffee output continues to be lower than the same period last year. The reason is due to the adverse effects of the weather causing this crop to fail. Especially the drought last year caused many gardeners to reduce their harvest by 50%. With current prices, coffee farmers are making good profits, so many people have started to replant coffee trees. However, if they are newly planted now, it will take at least 2 years to harvest. Therefore, although after US President Donald Trump announced the new tariff policy, coffee prices have decreased slightly, it is predicted that in the coming time, coffee prices will remain high, even continue to increase because supply is still much lower than consumption demand.

Binh Nguyen

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/kinh-te/202504/co-hoi-tai-canh-cay-ca-phe-87b2a8c/