Accordingly, companies are required to record and report on coffee farming practices, labor conditions, the use of water and chemicals, as well as emissions levels and environmental impacts arising from cultivation and transportation. Not only large enterprises, but also small businesses within the supply chain must provide legal documentation and relevant data.
Requirement for comprehensive production records and data
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is assessed by the Trade Office as the foremost requirement that Vietnamese coffee exporters must comply with. From December 30, 2025, all coffee shipments exported to the EU must be accompanied by proof that the products were not grown on land subject to deforestation after December 2020.
This requirement obliges enterprises to establish comprehensive record-keeping systems and provide maps accurately identifying the geographical location of each coffee-growing area. This poses a major challenge for Vietnam’s coffee sector, where the majority of output comes from smallholder farmers operating under traditional management systems.
According to the Trade Office, many coffee organizations worldwide have begun adopting technological solutions to comply with the EUDR. In Kenya, farmer cooperatives have deployed the TerraTrac application to map farms at a cost of only about USD 0.30 per farmer. In addition, the market offers various other tools and services such as Beyco, Farmforce, Frontierra, Koltiva, Meridia Verify, Nadar, Satelligence, Single.Earth, Sourcetrace, Taroworks and Terra-i+.
Investment in these technologies not only helps enterprises comply with regulations but also creates valuable databases for more effective supply chain management.
At the same time, the EU has issued two important directives aimed at strengthening corporate responsibility toward people and the environment within the coffee supply chain.
First, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), effective from July 2024, applies to large enterprises with more than 1,000 employees and annual revenues exceeding EUR 450 million. Depending on their scale, companies will be required to comply during the period from 2027 to 2029.
However, there are currently proposals within the European Parliament to adjust the scope of application of the CSDDD, meaning the final scale of its impact remains unclear. Nevertheless, the trend toward enhanced corporate responsibility is irreversible.
Second, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which takes effect from 2025, requires companies to provide detailed reports on environmental protection and fair treatment of workers.
Although small enterprises and cooperatives are not directly subject to compliance, they must still supply necessary information to larger partners within the supply chain. This means that even small and medium-sized Vietnamese coffee exporters need to prepare comprehensive data systems.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoang Thuy, Head of the Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden, emphasized that cooperatives and coffee-exporting enterprises must maintain complete records across many aspects of production activities. Specifically, companies need to record and report on coffee cultivation methods, labor conditions, the use of water and chemicals, as well as emissions levels and environmental impacts from cultivation and transportation.
One of the EU’s most important requirements is ensuring the absence of forced labor in supply chains. From December 2027, the EU will ban the circulation of products made with forced labor on the European market, regardless of company size.
At the same time, the Vietnam Trade Office recommends that domestic exporters set coffee prices at levels that allow farmers to pay fair wages to workers, in line with local standards. This is a key factor in preventing illegal labor practices and ensuring the long-term sustainability of supply chains. To meet forced-labor prevention requirements, coffee importers into the EU must demonstrate that their products are not produced using forced labor.
This requires Vietnamese cooperatives and coffee enterprises to implement a range of specific measures, including identifying stages with labor-related risks in their supply chains; issuing clear regulations for suppliers regarding fair labor practices and legal compliance; training farmers and workers on labor rights and international standards; establishing safe grievance mechanisms that allow workers to report violations without fear of retaliation; and regularly inspecting and monitoring supplier compliance through independent audits.
Other opportunities from cocoa
In addition to coffee, the Vietnam Trade Office also highlights the potential of the cocoa market in the Nordic region. Consumers in this area are increasingly concerned about health, the environment and social responsibility in their daily purchasing decisions.
For cocoa and chocolate products, Nordic consumers assess not only flavor and quality but also origin, farming conditions, farmers’ rights and environmental impacts during production. Sustainability has become a central criterion in food consumption in Denmark, Norway and Sweden—countries with strong social awareness and a willingness to pay for products that are transparently certified, organic and fair trade.
This creates clear opportunities for cocoa suppliers capable of meeting stringent standards on traceability, food safety and sustainable development. Although the Nordic market is not as large as Western European markets, its stability, high quality requirements and preference for value-added products make it an important benchmark market for exporting countries.
For Vietnam, cocoa is not yet a key export commodity, but it holds potential aligned with Nordic consumption trends, particularly when linked to stories of sustainable raw material development, improved farmer livelihoods and enhanced quality of processed products.
The EU’s new sustainability regulations pose major challenges but also open opportunities for Vietnam’s coffee industry to enhance its value and standing in the international market. To succeed, enterprises must undertake fundamental changes with a long-term vision, including investing in technology to comply with the EUDR, building comprehensive data management systems covering production, environment and labor to meet CSDDD and CSRD reporting requirements, ensuring fair and transparent labor practices throughout the supply chain, seeking international sustainability and fair-trade certifications to enhance competitiveness, and closely cooperating with farmers and cooperatives to build sustainable value chains from production to consumption. Only by doing so can Vietnamese coffee maintain and expand its market share in one of the world’s most demanding yet attractive markets.
Source: vneconomy.vn
