The Vietnamese coffee industry is facing many challenges and needs specific plans to adapt to the EUDR.
On March 11, in Buon Ma Thuot City (Dak Lak Province), the International Trade Conference - Connecting and Elevating Vietnamese Coffee took place. This is one of the main activities within the framework of the 9th Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival in 2025.
EUDR regulation impacts Vietnamese coffee industry
The conference is an opportunity to help the coffee industry approach the circular economy, the experiential economy that connects indigenous resources with local cultural and historical experiences. In addition, it helps the coffee industry to proactively adapt better to climate change, market fluctuations and consumer trends. Notably, the European Union has recently adopted the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). This is both an opportunity and a challenge for Buon Ma Thuot coffee in particular and the Vietnamese coffee industry in general, meeting the requirements for green, fast and sustainable development.
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| International Trade Conference - Connecting and Elevating Vietnamese Coffee |
According to Mr. Trinh Duc Minh - Chairman of Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Association: The European Union's anti-deforestation regulation (EUDR) is a new policy that affects world coffee prices, because this regulation will directly or indirectly affect the global coffee industry.
For coffee, exporters must ensure that coffee comes from regions that do not contribute to deforestation after December 31, 2020. This requires transparency in the coffee supply chain and compliance with new monitoring requirements, which will have a major impact on important coffee-producing countries such as Vietnam, Brazil, Colombia, and Indonesia.
The EUDR has implications for coffee supply, in particular it could restrict coffee supplies to Europe if certain producers fail to meet the requirements. Coffee-producing countries, especially those with unsustainable farming practices or insufficient monitoring capacity, would face the risk of being denied access to the European market. A reduction in supply from these producers could lead to an increase in global coffee prices, especially if demand for coffee in Europe does not decline.
At the same time, it causes fluctuations in coffee prices due to supply and demand trends. Specifically, if producers are forced to spend more to comply with the EUDR, these costs will be added to the final product price, leading to increased selling prices on the world market. On the other hand, if many coffee-producing countries cannot comply with the EUDR regulations, they may shift their exports to markets that do not apply this regulation, such as the US or China, leading to oversupply in these markets and potentially reducing prices. However, this effect depends on the demand of other markets and the ability to penetrate.
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| Mr. Thai Anh Tuan - General Director of 2-9 Coffee Company Limited (Simexco Dak Lak) |
According to Mr. Thai Anh Tuan - General Director of 2-9 Coffee Company Limited (Simexco Dak Lak), the main coffee export markets are still the EU (41%), the US (6%), Japan (10%), South Korea (7%) and China (5%). However, the Vietnamese coffee industry is facing major challenges from the EU anti-deforestation regulations (EUDR), changing consumer demand and the trend of sustainable coffee development.
"The 2023-2024 coffee crop year will witness the highest and fastest price fluctuations in the history of the coffee industry. While farmers benefit from high prices, there are also contract defaults and supply disruptions, causing many difficulties and risks for exporting businesses that have committed to selling to foreign customers. In addition, many importing countries are increasingly applying stricter standards on quality and production processes. This creates opportunities for businesses to produce high-quality coffee but also poses challenges for products that do not meet standards," said Mr. Thai Anh Tuan.
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| Ms. Vanusia Nogueira - Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) |
Presenting at the conference, Ms. Vanusia Nogueira - Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) - said: Global coffee consumption is forecast to increase from 0.9-3.4%/year, equivalent to 8-30 million bags of coffee (60kg/bag). However, the global coffee industry still faces many difficulties such as strong price fluctuations, limited land for production, the impact of climate change and especially strict legal regulations such as EUDR.
Develop specific plans to adapt to EUDR
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Manh - Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) - said that the Vietnamese coffee industry is facing many challenges and needs to have specific plans to meet the increasingly high standards of coffee export from importing countries. Especially the new regulations from the European Union requiring coffee origin not to cause deforestation and forest degradation.
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| Mr. Nguyen Quoc Manh - Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) - presented at the conference. |
According to Mr. Nguyen Quoc Manh, the Vietnamese coffee industry is currently producing on a very small scale. The area of farm households in our country is not like Brazil or other countries, when their forest area of farm households is very large. Therefore, the cost of certifying such small-scale farming areas is very high.
In addition, Vietnam’s forest mapping system has not been unified among provinces. Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment will continue to coordinate with the provinces to complete the forest status map. From there, it is possible to clearly see which coffee areas are in safe zones, can be exported to Europe without any obstacles, and also the areas that are at risk of encroachment on forest land.
Over the past year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has developed plans to adapt to EUDR. In particular, coordination with businesses and localities has been thoroughly implemented. The Ministry has issued two temporary guidelines for businesses and localities to implement, including: Guidelines for adapting to EUDR for the coffee and rubber industries and Guidelines for adapting to EUDR for the wood industry (issued in February 2025). This is the premise for localities and businesses to temporarily feel secure in implementing the contents of adapting to EUDR for the coffee industry.
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| Mr. Nguyen Quoc Manh - Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) |
In the coming time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment will continue to coordinate with localities and businesses to best implement all regulations, ready to start exporting coffee products to Europe ensuring EUDR regulations from January 2026.
In addition, to increase the role of enterprises, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Manh said: The regulations of the European Union and EUDR are directly related to enterprises, because enterprises are responsible for tracing the origin of the products they purchase for export to the European Union and are responsible for explaining the origin, so the role of enterprises is very important. Therefore, the Ministry and localities will connect with each other, support enterprises and people, so that both enterprises and people can trace products clearly, transparently and ensure full compliance with the regulations of the European Union.
According to the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), in the 2023-2024 crop year, the total coffee export volume will reach about 1.45 million tons, with a turnover of nearly 5.43 billion USD, down 12.7% in volume but up 33% in value thanks to high coffee prices. The average export price reached 3,673 USD/ton, up nearly 50% over the previous crop year. The main export markets are still the EU (41%), the US (6%), Japan (10%), South Korea (7%) and China (5%). |
Source: https://congthuong.vn/nganh-ca-phe-can-xay-dung-ke-hoach-cu-the-de-thich-ung-voi-eudr-377745.html
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