Coffee farmers in Vietnam turn to durians

Quality product: Owner Tran Thi Bich Ngoc pours coffee beans into a roastery at her Mori coffee farm in Gia Lai province. Production of robusta coffee in Vietnam likely shrank this year to its smallest volume in four years as some farmers turned to growing durians. — AFP

HANOI: Vietnam’s production of robusta coffee likely shrank this year to its smallest volume in four years as farmers focus more on growing durians and are drawn away by a property boom.

The coffee harvest fell more than 7% from the previous year to 1.67 million tonnes, according to the median estimate of exporters and traders in a Bloomberg survey. Crop expectations gradually declined as the harvest progressed.