Representatives from Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam attended the two-day Southeast Asian Cacao Conference.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong, Vietnam’s cacao acreage reached more than 10,000ha in June this year, with current prices at VND47,000 per kilo of cacao beans.

The growth of the industry was partly thanks to a Sustainable Cocoa Enterprise Solutions for Smallholders (SUCCESS) Alliance project which helped train thousands of Vietnamese farmers in cacao cultivation, harvest and semi-processing techniques, he added.

To further develop the industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has approved a cacao development plan to increase the country’s cacao-growing acreage to 60,000ha by 2015 and earn an export turnover of between US$50-60 million.