Vietnammms First Coffee Transaction Center to be Built in Dak Lak

Construction on the first ever professional coffee trading floor in Vietnam will be soon kicked off in the central highlands province of Dak Lak.

 

The Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Transaction Center (BCTC) is scheduled to be operational from September 2006.

 

The center will serve the trade of coffee beans made in Vietnam, operating under the mode of concentrated and open auctioning.

 

A management council to regulate the transaction center will comprise of two representatives from Dak Lak Peoples’ Committee, a council chairman, a representative of Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), and three representatives from member organizations.

 

Transactions at the center will be carried out through a local area network (LAN), and wide area network (WAN), while member organizations can conduct transactions directly or via the Internet. Five transactions will take place per week, from 7.30 pm to 9 pm.

 

Two main types of coffee available will be Arabica and Robusta, with all products registered for transaction meeting requirements on quality in accordance with government regulation 41329/2001.

 

BCTC will also act as an intermediary for receiving and transferring products, which will be delivered at one of five depots in Buon Ma Thuot, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang City, Hai Phong and Vinh City. Local business must have minimum capital of VND5 billion (US$316,455) and minimum coffee export of 5,000 tons a crop over the last three consecutive years, to be eligible for center membership.

 

Broker organizations must hold licenses for financial or trade brokerage and have a minimum chartered capital of VND3 billion ($189,873). Foreign brokers must have minimum chartered capital of $2 million.

 

Producers, dealers, processors, and brokers not eligible to become members can still join transactions at the center through center members. All members can act as brokers.

 

The province currently has 90 coffee processing establishments, of which 25 are State-run while private businessmen own the rest. These establishments process 300,000 tons of coffee beans a year using wet and dry processing technologies.

 

Dak Lak, the largest coffee growing area in Vietnam, is located in a strategic position in the central highlands and is one of the important regions in terms of economics, politics, security and defense.

 

The province currently has 163,000 hectares under coffee cultivation, yielding out an estimated output of nearly 220,000 tons this year, which accounts for 60 per cent of the country's total output.
Vietnam Agriculture, VietNamNet