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Lao coffee has successfully won the hearts and taste buds of Japanese coffee drinkers after a three year marketing campaign to boost exports to the world's second largest economy.

Office Head of the Lao Coffee Association, Mr Viengkham Sisanguan, said yesterday the export value of unprocessed Lao coffee to Japan had increased continually over the three years since the product was first introduced there.

“Japanese coffee drin-kers have begun to ask where their coffee is from and many have learned that good coffee is coming from Laos,” he told Vientiane Times yesterday.

According to a report from the Lao Coffee Association, Laos exported 1,300 tonnes of Arabica coffee to Japan over the first six months of this year valued at US$2.4 million, increasing from 1,000 tonnes in 2009.

Mr Viengkham said a key factor in the growing popularity of Lao coffee in Japan is that it is produced organically, adding that Japanese people are keen on healthy living and organic foods.

“We do not use chemicals to grow coffee because our plantations are on fertile land; this is one reason why Japanese coffee drinkers like Lao coffee so much,” he said.

The distinctive flavour of Lao Arabica coffee was another factor in winning over the taste-buds of Japanese consumers.

He explained that Arabica grows high on the fertile Bolaven Plateau where the climate is suitable for producing excellent tasting coffee.

Mr Viengkham said the other main foreign market for Lao coffee is Europe. In the first half of this year Laos exported about 10,000 tonnes of unprocessed coffee globally, most of which was Robusta.

This gave a total export value over the past six months of about US$13.2 million, while the association estimates coffee exports will reach 15,000 tonnes by year's end.

Last year Laos exported about 11 tonnes of unprocessed coffee valued at US$14 million.

Mr Viengkham noted that coffee prices had risen on world markets this year, mainly due to a plunge in global supply as many coffee exporting nations faced the lasting negative impacts of natural disasters.

The price of Arabica coffee is now about US$2,500 per tonne, while Robusta is selling at US$1,800 per tonne, he said, adding that Laos is benefitting from the current higher prices because plantations have yielded a bumper crop this year.

According to a report from the Lao Coffee Association, the output from the Bolaven Plateau is about 25,000 tonnes per year. The association is yet to gather output data from other coffee growers in the country.

The government is promoting the export of processed coffee to add more value to Lao products. In response the Daoheuang Group built an instant coffee processing plant earlier this year with a view to boosting exports.

A major aspect of making Lao processed coffee exports viable is marketing, said Mr Viengkham, adding that the Lao coffee brand should be more widely advertised.

 

 

 

By Ekaphone Phouthonesy
(Latest Update July 07, 2010)