Singapore, Jan. 11 - Vietnam will be intensifying the development of its coffee and cocoa industries with the formation of separate associations to oversee each commodity, an industry official said Friday.
The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, formed in 1990, is now known as the Vietnam Coffee Association. A separate Vietnam Cocoa Association will be formed within the next two years, when the cocoa industry is more mature, said the association spokeswoman.
Luong Van Tu, former vice-minister of commerce and industry, has taken over as the new coffee association chairman from Van Than Huay, who remains in the executive board as a member.
While Vietnam is currently the world's largest producer of robusta coffee beans, with nearly 500,000 hectares of coffee farms and output of over 1 million metric tons a year, it currently only has around 7,320 hectares of cocoa plantations and produces under 7,000 tons of cocoa annually.
Vietnam aims to increase its cocoa acreage to 20,000 hectares by 2010 with output of around 30,000 tons.