Higher exports fail to help Vietnam farmers

Although the price of major agricultural exports has risen sharply, farmers continue to incur losses because they lack access to global market information.
Van Thanh Huy, member of the Viet Nam Coffee Association's Executive Board, said the price of major exports such as coffee, pepper and cashew nuts have soared due to growing world demand.
But farmers lack information about the global demand and market prices, with many selling coffee for VND20,000 (US$1.2) a kilo, VND15,000 lower than the market price, according to Le Ngoc Bau of the Central Highlands' Agriculture and Forestry Institute.
Farmers have not had sufficient stock for sale because export companies had signed previous contracts to sell the products at a low price.
Updated information on global market demand, price and production was limited, resulting in inaccurate information and lower income for farmers.
Although the selling price of major agricultural exports is rising, supply has fallen short. The price of coffee rose to VND35,500 ($2.1) a kilo compared with VND25,000 last year.
Huy said due to crop failure, coffee output this year only reached 14.8 million bags (a bag is equivalent to 60 kilos), as compared with 16.8 million bags last year.
Viet Nam is expected to export 800,000 tonnes of coffee this year, a fall of 300,000 tonnes from last year.
World coffee demand is expected to grow to 125 million bags this year, seven million bags higher than supply, leading to predictions that coffee prices on the world market will continue to rise this year.
Epper, cashew output falls
Other farm products, such as pepper and cashew, are also encountering the same situation.
Do Ha Nam, chairman of the Viet Nam Pepper Association, said pepper output this year fell by 10 per cent to 90,000 tonnes.
Viet Nam last year became the world's top pepper exporter, sending 82,000 tonnes to global markets.
The price of export pepper rose to $3,200 a tonne, up by $200 a tonne from last year.
According to the Viet Nam Cashew Association, the country's production of cashew nuts is about 350,000 tonnes, much below the total capacity of processing plants of 600,000 tonnes.
This has led the industry to import an additional 200,000 tonnes to process.
Rice traders in the Mekong River Delta have also rushed to fields to buy rice because demand is expected to soar this year.
Truong Thanh Phong, chairman of the Viet Nam Food Association, said world food prices would increase this year because of an expected global shortage of wheat, corn and soybeans.