Hanoi, Sept 11 - Vietnam, the world's largest exporter of robusta coffee, will launch the country's first coffee trading floor in December this year as part of efforts to boost sales and prices, the government said on Thursday.
The Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Exchange Center (BCEC), named after the capital of the top coffee growing province of Daklak, is expected to begin operations on Dec. 12, the government report quoted Daklak's provincial chairman Lu Ngoc Cu as saying.
Initially, BCEC will operate as a coffee auction floor for both domestic and international seller and buyers, provincial officials have said.
Subsequently, the floor will be upgraded to allow online transactions to help promote exports and bring local prices closer to international prices, they said.
Vietnam's 2008/2009 robusta crop is forecast to rise to 21.5 million 60-kg bags from 18 million bags in the previous crop, according to a Reuters poll in July.
Coffee prices in Vietnam have gained nearly 20 percent so far this year and risen nearly a quarter from the same period last September, and exports this year are forecast to rise 8 percent to $2 billion.