Mr. Osorio, keynote speaker at "Coffee Outlook 2007”, Vietnam

4 December 2007

The Executive Director, Mr. Néstor Osorio, was a keynote speaker at the opening ceremony of “Coffee Outlook 2007”, held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 4 to 6 December 2007. In his address, Mr. Osorio gave an overview of the market situation, noting the buoyant pattern of consumption and consolidation of price levels which had characterized the market in recent months. He highlighted the contribution of Asian countries to the world coffee market, and the importance of Vietnam and other countries in the region including India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand both in supplying coffee and in increasing internal consumption. Mr. Osorio further noted the key role of Vietnam, the world’s second largest producer of coffee (around 18 million bags in 2006/07), in contributing to a sustainable world coffee economy, and in providing supplies for global consumption, and recognized the efforts being made by the Vietnamese coffee authorities, the Vietnam Coffee-Cocoa Association (VICOFA), to improve coffee quality. During his visit, he met Mr. Van Thanh Huy, Chairman of VICOFA, and Mr. Nguyen Tri Ngoc, Director, Department of Crop Production at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to discuss developments in the coffee sector in Vietnam. He also travelled to the province of Daklak with Mr. Doàn Triêu Nhan, Vice-Chairman of VICOFA, where he visited some of the country’s most important plantations and processing plants. On behalf of VICOFA, Mr. Nhan awarded Mr. Osorio a campaign medal ”for the cause of Vietnamese coffee”, in recognition of his great contribution to the Vietnamese coffee industry.