The Ministry of Finance issued the Official Letter No. 10958 / BTC-CST dated August 17, 2017 on the draft submission and enclosed with the amended and supplemented Law on Value Added Tax (VAT) and the special consumption tax ( SSC) for comments. Based on the consultations of domestic and foreign enterprises (FDI) in production, processing and export of coffee, the Vietnam Cocoa Coffee Association shall generalize and give the following opinions:

Vietnamese coffee is a great contributor to the state budget. Annual export is about 1.3 - 1.5 million tons of coffee with turnover from USD 2.5 billion - USD 3 billion. However, the percentage of processed coffee is still be low in comparison to other countries and reach only over 10%. Domestic consumption is only 7-8%, while countries like Brazil is 45% and Indonesia is 35%. So the value of Vietnamese coffee is very low.

According to the guidance of the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, coffee processing by 2030 will reach 30-40% of yields . At present, domestic and FDI enterprises are concentrating on building processing plants in coffee growing regions

Vietnam is negotiating RTA (s) / FTAs with other countries to open the import market, reducing the import tax on processed coffee from 0-5% to create conditions for enterprises to export processed coffee next time.

In addition, coffee is not a drink that be not good for health, but according to a study by the International Coffee Organization (ICO) coffee is healthy, such as:

1. 1. Coffee helps people be more alert, improves short memory and recognizes better use of the frontal cortex.
2. 2. Coffee has antioxidant and antioxidant properties at the cellular level.
3. 3. Coffee has the effect of reducing the risk of liver disease and preventing gallstones.
4. 4. Coffee works against cerebral palsy such as mental illness and epilepsy.
5. 5. Coffee is effective against intestinal diseases and skin cancer.
6. 6. Coffee has the effect of fighting bone disease and limiting excitement.
7. 7. Coffee helps to reduce body weight and improve athletic appearance.
8. Coffee works to relieve asthma symptoms and help curb hyperactivity in children.

In order to continue to stimulate domestic consumption and export of processed coffee in the future, the project "Enhancing the competitiveness of Vietnamese coffee towards sustainable development and added value" of the Vietnam Cocoa Coffee Association with the aim of the new development phase of the coffee industry in Vietnam: maintaining the position of the second coffee exporter in the world; to step up the processing of coffee to raise the value and export turnover to US $ 5-6 billion by 2030 with a maxim "productivity - quality and added value".

For the reasons mentioned above, the Vietnam Cocoa Coffee Association would like to request the Ministry of Finance to consider not supplying instant coffee soft drinks packed in accordance with the production line of the list of taxable commodities that be subject to the special consumption tax,  because if it put into apply will effect directly to manufacturers, processors and consumers in the country.