The Instant Coffee Boom Is Changing Farmers’ Fortunes
The price of coffee is at its highest in decades — bad news for caffeine-lovers, but good for bean farmers in Vietnam profiting from global demand.
Illustration: Isabella Cotier for Bloomberg
When Nguyen Anh Tuan went shopping for a car earlier this year, he only had to tell the salesman that he farms three hectares of coffee trees to have the keys handed to him. He drove off leaving just a small deposit and a promise to pay the rest after harvest. Tuan’s brother — also a coffee farmer, with 12 hectares in the rolling hills of Vietnam’s Central Highlands — just purchased a small truck.
Thanks to the highest coffee prices in decades, they and farmers like them are experiencing an improvement of fortunes after suffering a poor harvest last year due to drought. High prices have more than offset a smaller crop, turning their beans into a form of currency.