Global coffee supply dealt fresh blow by Vietnam's virus curbs

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Who's been buying Vietnamese coffee??? I'd love to have access to a regular supply of Vietnamese robusta but can't find it in Italy for less than extortionate prices

I'd expect local capitalists to object to these measures but they gotta suck it up somehow; they're lucky to live in a country that can, at least in some ways, bring itself to prioritise public health over profiteers.

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u/TheHoneySacrifice 18d ago

Germany. They're the second largest coffee roaster in the world after Brazil & but raw coffee from Vietnam, Uganda etc. There is no tax on import of raw coffee in Germany but 9% on import of roasted coffee. So traders export raw coffee to Germany where it is processed & re-exported to EU & US. It's very unfair for Africa especially.

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u/SwipeOfTheFob 18d ago

Ha ha but where would the west be if it couldn't sell countries their own stuff back to them at an inflated price???

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u/pandapornotaku 18d ago

In Hanoi the only non local coffee I see at the supermarket is Nescafé. Sure the imported specialist shops have Lavazza. Interesting the hipster places generally use Lao beans. If you ever have the chance I suggest trying Me Trang.

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u/SwipeOfTheFob 18d ago edited 18d ago

I lived in Vietnam and I know they process their own coffee :) I understand that, as with rice, this has partly been because Vietnam's produce has not always met the "standards" of world markets (huh) so a strong internal one remains. As you can gather, I don't get that. I found it the most delicious coffee of my life ha ha but I guess I'm glad

I was cracking a joke above and it did not reflect any expert knowledge of coffee markets! I was kidding more about the broader situation of raw resource / processed goods which, by and large, operates as I mentioned and the poster above did -- western nations carry out the high-profit activities in the supply chain

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u/Greedy-Locksmith-801 18d ago

Do you think Vietnam, Uganda etc imports their roasted coffee from Germany?

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u/SwipeOfTheFob 18d ago edited 18d ago

It's not uniform around the world and I'm kinda speaking out of my ass re: coffee ha ha but, in general, yeah, poor countries are supposed to sell the raw resource and buy back the processed one. There was a recent example of this in the press but I forget which African country it was, trying to push to process more of its own cocoa beans but Switzerland was threatening to no longer engage

Not Germany but the west in general; the global south digs, the west refines

Imperialism In The 21st Century by John Smith (Monthly Review) goes into a lot of detail on these dynamics if you're unfamiliar :)

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u/Mexicancandi 18d ago

Don't forget that some countries even making the product own none of it. The creator of geely was considered an outlier for a while cause he hated that skilled chinese hands knew how to make cars but didn't participate in the ownership or selling of the end product. It was all manufacturing no ownership.

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u/ObviouslyObstinate 18d ago

The pre-ground Trung Nguyen works for me. I have drip filters from my trips. So far, there’s still a local supply. (yes, of course fresh ground tastes better)

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