Vietnam police seize tonnes of fake coffee products made from soybeans

Police in Vietnam have launched a criminal investigation into a warehouse accused of producing fake coffee made from soybeans following a raid earlier this week, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday.

The police seized 4.1 tonnes of fake coffee products and 3 tonnes of raw materials during the raid, which took place in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, the ministry said in a statement.

Vietnam is the world's largest producer of Robusta coffee, which has a bitter taste and is used mainly in instant coffee. The Central Highlands is the country's key coffee growing area.

Luong Viet Kiem, the owner of the warehouse, admitted to the police that his firm mixed soybeans and flavourings with coffee beans to produce ground coffee for the local market, according to the statement.

Reuters couldn't immediately reach Kiem for comment.

The police said the warehouse raid came following a search on Tuesday of a truck carrying 1,056 bags of ground coffee weighing 528 kilograms, which had no accompanying documentation.

Further investigations are underway, they said.

"Fake coffee products are not rare, and they can be made from soybean or corn, or even both," said Nguyen Quang Tho, a coffee trader based in the neighbouring province of Dak Lak.

"Soybeans and corn are edible and a lot cheaper than real coffee beans, but who knows if it's safe for the health to drink these fake coffee products," said Tho.

Farmers in the Central Highlands are selling coffee beans at 100,500-100,100 dong ($3.86) per kg, around three times higher than the price for soybeans.

In 2018, police in the Central Highlands arrested five people suspected of using battery chemicals to dye waste coffee beans and sell the mixture as black pepper.

Vietnam exported 1.6 million tonnes of coffee valued at $8.9 billion last year, up 18.3 per cent in volume and 58.8 per cent in value, according to the government's customs data.