Mr. Thai Nhu Hiep, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association and Chairman and General Director of the Vinh Hiep Co., Ltd., spoke with Chu Khoi about the preparations and readiness of Vietnamese coffee exporters to meet the requirements of the upcoming EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

What is your vision for the green development and future of Vietnam’s coffee industry?

Our aspiration is for farmers to sell not only their labor or raw materials but also the value and brand of their land and of Vietnamese coffee.

The global trend is toward green exports, green growth, and sustainable development. Nearly all new standards are built around these requirements. To produce “green” products, the entire value chain and every part of a business, from leadership to frontline employees, must embrace green principles. Green is not simply about meeting environmental standards; it is about changing mindsets and business practices to achieve long-term sustainability.

Mr. Thai Nhu Hiep, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association and Chairman and General Director of the Vinh Hiep Co., Ltd..

In my view, companies that lack confidence in their own capabilities, fail to operate transparently, or do not build a genuine business culture will struggle to achieve sustainable growth. At Vinh Hiep, we pursue a model built on green factories, green people, green agriculture, and ultimately green exports. By remaining committed to this direction, we generated approximately $1 billion in export revenue in 2025 and became one of Vietnam’s leading coffee exporters.

What I hope to see is not only Vinh Hiep’s success but also the sustainable development of Vietnam’s entire coffee industry. We need a shared direction to build a coffee sector that is transparent, sustainable, and recognized internationally for its credibility.

How would you assess the readiness of Vietnamese businesses for EUDR compliance?

The EU remained Vietnam’s largest coffee export market in 2025, accounting for approximately 40.7 per cent of the industry’s total export value. Vietnam exported more than 666,000 tons of coffee to the bloc, generating $3.63 billion in export revenue; up 26 per cent in volume and 68.3 per cent in value compared with 2024. Exports to key markets including Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands all posted strong growth.

In the first half of 2026, Vietnam exported 1.1 million tons of coffee worth $4.78 billion in total, up 9.7 per cent in volume but down 14.4 per cent in value from the same period of 2025. The EU remained the largest destination, accounting for more than 40 per cent of total export value. Germany, Italy, and the US continued to be Vietnam’s three largest coffee markets, with market shares of 14.1 per cent, 7.9 per cent, and 6.9 per cent, respectively. This trend suggests that Vietnamese coffee is increasingly meeting Europe’s stringent requirements for quality, traceability, and sustainability.

The EU market is critically important to Vietnam’s coffee industry, yet fewer than six months remain before EUDR compliance becomes mandatory. Over the past few years, nearly every company has claimed it has prepared early and is ready to meet the regulation. However, many businesses are still relying solely on data provided by certification bodies without conducting their own verification. Even more concerning, some companies barely understand what EUDR requires yet still declare themselves compliant.

In my view, this is not simply about selling another shipment. It is about the reputation of Vietnamese businesses and the country’s international standing. One of the biggest concerns is that Vietnamese companies continue to operate largely on their own, with limited information sharing and collaboration, despite this being an industry-wide challenge.

Vinh Hiep has reportedly made a significant investment to rebuild its production-area database rather than relying on existing records. Could you share your experience in collecting field data?

To meet the EU’s traceability requirements, we invested approximately VND30-40 billion ($1.15-1.54 million) to review and standardize its entire production-area database instead of relying solely on existing records. This process enabled the company to identify overlapping data with other organizations and ensure the accuracy of each production area.

Using the 4C certification database as a starting point, the company re-verified information for every farming household, including the household head, citizen identification number, cultivated area, GPS coordinates, and other relevant details.

We also established an online coordination mechanism with local authorities. Any issues arising during the verification process were immediately shared through a joint working group involving provincial representatives, commune officials, the company, and farmers. This allowed verification requests to be resolved quickly, although cases involving multiple local jurisdictions still required additional time.

While the verification process has not yet been completed across the entire production area, coffee sourced from verified and compliant regions is already sufficient to supply approximately 40 per cent of Vinh Hiep’s exports to the EU.

In your view, what are the biggest obstacles preventing businesses from building EUDR databases, and what risks do overlapping production-area data currently pose?

Many companies have yet to proactively develop and verify their production-area databases because of concerns over cost and limited human resources. Most continue to rely on data provided by certification schemes such as FSC, Rainforest Alliance (RA), Fairtrade, and 4C, assuming those databases are fully reliable. However, the main concern is not the quality of the data itself but the overlap between different companies covering the same farmers or the same land plots.

For example, in Gia Lai province, a farmer with 3 ha of coffee may simultaneously hold three different certifications. Each company maintains its own database, meaning the same coffee output can appear in multiple company records. If EU authorities discover that several shipments are declared as originating from the same farm, with a combined volume far exceeding the farm’s actual production, all companies involved could face allegations of non-compliance and have their shipments rejected. There is currently no clear mechanism for assigning responsibility in such cases.

To reduce this risk, Vinh Hiep has adopted a more cautious approach. The company continues to use data from certification bodies, but only as an initial reference before conducting further verification and field inspections, rather than accepting it at face value. Though the EU has yet to issue detailed guidance on handling overlapping datasets, proactively reviewing and standardizing information will provide companies with stronger evidence of transparency and compliance should inspections occur in the future.

The preparation period for the introduction of the EUDR will end on December 30, 2026, with the regulation entering full force on January 1, 2027. One of the biggest challenges today is the absence of a central body responsible for managing and coordinating production-area databases across companies. Once the EUDR is fully implemented, local authorities should publish lists of companies operating production-area databases within their jurisdictions and review cases of overlapping records. Harmonizing these databases from the outset will help prevent regulatory violations and reduce export risks for businesses serving the EU market.

The country targetting 25 million international visitors for 2026.

Vietnam welcomed 1.67 million international visitors in July 2026, up 6.6% from a year earlier, according to the National Statistics Office under the Ministry of Finance.

As a result, the total number of foreign tourists arrived in the first seven months of the year reached 13.9 million, accounting for approximately 56% of the country's target of 25 million international visitors for 2026.

China remained Vietnam's largest source market with around 3.1 million arrivals, accounting for 22.2% of the total. The Republic of Korea ranked second with 2.4 million, reaffirming its position as one of Vietnam's most important and stable tourism markets.

Russia continued to stand out as the fastest-growing market, with 864,000 arrivals during the period, up 174% from the same period in 2025 and more than double the pre-pandemic level recorded in 2019. The strong recovery enabled Russia to retain its position as Vietnam's third-largest source market and the country's largest visitor market from Europe.

Vietnam's tourism industry is expected to maintain its growth momentum as it enters the peak international travel season in late third quarter and the fourth quarter. Authorities expect continued support from the country's liberalized visa policies, expanded international air connectivity, more diversified tourism products and intensified promotional campaigns in key overseas markets, helping the sector work toward its goal of attracting 25 million international visitors in 2026.

Vietnam's posted a trade turnover of US$659.58 billion in the first seven months of 2026, up 28.1% from a year earlier.

Imports outpaced exports, resulting in a trade deficit of $20.52 billion, largely driven by stronger demand for imported raw materials, machinery and production inputs.

Merchandise exports totaled $319.53 billion between January and July, a 21.7% year-on-year increase, according to the National Statistics Office.

The domestic economic sector contributed $63.64 billion, up 5.8% and accounting for 19.9% of total exports, while the foreign-invested sector, including crude oil, generated the remaining $255.89 billion, up 26.4%.

Some 31 export items recorded turnover exceeding $1 billion each, accounting for 93% of the total export value. Of these, seven products each generated more than $10 billion, making up 69.7% of total exports.

Manufactured goods remained dominant, reaching $287.91 billion and accounting for 90.1% of exports. Agricultural and forestry products earned $22.79 billion (7.1%), seafood exports totaled $6.86 billion (2.2%), while fuel and mineral exports reached $1.97 billion (0.6%).

Meanwhile, merchandise imports rose 34.8% year-on-year to $340.05 billion. Imports by the domestic sector reached $92.14 billion, up 24.1%, while the foreign-invested sector imported goods worth $247.91 billion, an increase of 39.2%.

A total of 40 imported products exceeded $1 billion in value each, accounting for 93% of the total imports. Two products each recorded import turnover above $10 billion, representing 52% of the total.

Production inputs accounted for 94.1% of imports, equivalent to $319.95 billion. Machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts made up 56.9% of imports while raw materials and fuels accounted for 37.2%. Consumer goods imports totaled $20.1 billion, or 5.9% of the total.

The U.S. remained Vietnam's largest export market, with exports valued at $104.7 billion in the seven-month period, while China continued to be the country's largest source of imports, supplying goods worth $138.6 billion.

Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of $91.4 billion with the US, up 22.6% year-on-year, while its trade deficit with China widened 39.7% to $93 billion.

To further boost exports, Nguyen Thi Huong, the office's director, recommended the government to continue implementing measures to promote exports, step up trade promotion activities, diversify supply chains, production networks and export markets while improving product quality and integrating more deeply into regional and global supply chains.

She also called for better utilization of existing free trade agreements, stronger exports to key markets, and greater efforts to tap into emerging markets, including Halal, Latin American and African markets, with the aim of achieving a sustainable trade surplus.

In addition, she proposed providing businesses with timely market information, helping them comply with new export standards, supporting them in anti-dumping cases, facilitating access to finance, and encouraging the adoption of advanced technologies to improve product quality, enhance added value and expand export markets.