A coffee trading centre will open soon in Buon Ma Thuot City in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak - the country's biggest coffee growing area, with the aim of helping coffee growers increase their incomes.

According to Nguyen Tuan Ha, Vice Director of the Trade Promotion Centre of Dak Lak, the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Exchange Centre (BCEC) will professionalize the purchase and export of coffee in Vietnam, helping raise the quality of Vietnam's export coffee and protect coffee growers' interests.

In the first stage of operation, the BCEC will initially serve as an auction floor. Later its facilities will be upgraded to better perform e-transaction for export contracts between Vietnamese businesses and the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE).

The BCEC is part of the Buon Ma Thuot coffee market project in Dak Lak. Construction work for the VND20 billion centre started in October 2005, has been completed.

According to the Vietnam Coffee-Cacao Association, coffee prices will remain high in the coming time because the world demand for coffee is on the rise.