Nestlé builds coffee plant in Dong Nai

By Thai Hang - The Saigon Times Daily

HCMC – Nestlé Vietnam Company on Tuesday announced its project of building a big plant producing coffee in the southern province of Dong Nai with the total investment capital of US$270 million.

Vu Quoc Tuan, head of Nestlé’s communication department, said the plant covering nearly 11 hectares in Amata Industrial Park would produce up to 32,500 tons of coffee products per year, including 12,500 tons of instant coffee and 20,000 tons of caffeine-free coffee.

The plant was estimated to process around 46,000 tons of coffee beans in Vietnam for domestic and international markets consumption.

Nestlé Vietnam already has another instant coffee plant in Dong Nai Province with the production capacity of 1,000 tons per year.

Nestlé’s chief executive Paul Buckle said this new plant was part of a global initiative of Nescafé Plan deployed for over one year. The initiative helped Nestlé Group optimize the chain of directly purchasing coffee, distributing new species of coffee and offering technical support to farmers.

Nestlé Vietnam would increase the direct purchase of coffee from farmers in the next five years and target to buy some 30,000 tons of coffee from 16,000 local farmers each year.

Besides, the company in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development would continue the project of expanding coffee capacity through effective farming as well as highly-productive and anti-diseased types of coffee distribution.

This project aimed to attract the participation of around 20,000 Vietnamese farmers in the next five years. Nestlé Vietnam is seeking the cooperation with local partners to become the country’s leading coffee buyer.