Vietnam becomes world’s largest coffee exporter

Vietnam has surpassed Brazil to become the world’s largest coffee exporter, according to statistics recently released by the International Coffee Organization (ICO).

The country shipped a total of 14.325 million bags of coffee in the first six months of this year, 13.63 percent higher than the export turnover of Brazil, the ICO said in its June report on the world coffee exporting market. (1 bag weights 60 kg)

Vietnam’s coffee export turnover in June dropped by 23.15 percent month on month to 2.07 million bags, but the country remained the top exporter for the fifth consecutive month.

Honduras made an unexpected increase as it outgrew other strong rivals such as Indonesia, Colombia, and India to take third place.

Global coffee export in June stood at 9.58 million bags, a 5.2 percent increase compared to the same period last year, according to ICO.

However, global exports in the first nine months of the 2011/12 coffee year, which lasts from October 2011 to June 2012, saw a slight decline of 0.3 percent, fetching 81.16 million bags.