Vietnamese coffee to be graded

David Howells

07/10/2011 10:19:07

Vietnamese coffee will be graded in a bid to make the jobs of farmers and exporters more sustainable.

Under the new scheme, 50-ton parcels of Vietnamese coffee will be stored at a holding plant in Ho Chi Minh City whilst samples are sent to the UK to be graded. Approved stocks will then retain their grading for six months, allowing them to be delivered without the need for further testing.

The grading scheme is thought to benefit the growers in sourcing finance, with more money to be invested in the approved crops. Britons will then want to source more of these beans for their bean to cup coffee machines and therefore the better stocks will see an increase in value.

If the scheme proves popular, it will look to being extended over other coffee providing nations, such as Brazil and Indonesia.

Whilst the 50-tons of coffee is quarantined in Ho Chi Minh, it will be looked after by Liffe, whose head of commodity product management Peter Blogg told thanhniennews.com: “Exporters want to be able to attach future value to the coffee before it gets shipped and banks prefer commodities with a futures value as a backstop.

“I’m optimistic we could have it in place for the upcoming crop, so we can catch at least part of that.”

Adding, secretary general of the European Coffee Federation Roel Vaessen told coffeeasean.org that the scheme should “remove an element of uncertainty so we have more flexibility when the coffee arrives.”