Vietnam National Coffee Corporation (Vinacafe) will plant 10,000 hectares of rubber and 10,000 hectares of coffee in Myanmar.

Nguyen Cong Hoang, deputy general director of Vinacafe, told the Daily on Monday that the estimated farming cost was around VND200 million and VND50 million per hectare of rubber and coffee respectively with the money mainly borrowed from banks.

The Myanmar project does not affect the restructuring scheme Vinacafe has presented to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Among the 2,000 hectares of rubber and 25,000 hectares of coffee Vinacafe currently farms, there are around 8,000 hectares of old coffee trees which need to be re-planted in the next three years.

According to Nguyen Viet Vinh, general secretary of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), Vietnam’s coffee yield of the 2012-2013 crop will drop by 15-20% from the previous crop due to sudden weather changes. In addition, some 100,000 hectares have two decade old coffee trees that need to re-planted, and thus the yield is not as high with only around one ton per hectare.

The current coffee price in the Central Highlands ranges from VND41,900 to VND42,100 per kilogram, down VND100 per kilogram from the weekend.

In related news, the club of Vietnam’s 20 leading coffee exporters has proposed to temporarily store 300,000 tons of coffee in the 2012-2013 crop and offer interest rate support for farmers when the coffee price falls to avoid a deep price cut.

The Saigon Times Daily