Vietnam remains highly competitive in terms of productivity, logistics efficiency and export volumes.
In 2025, export revenues surpassed US$8bn driven by strong prices and rising demand for processed products. Approximately 1.5 million tonnes of coffee were shipped, while roasted and processed exports generated more than US$1bn in eight months,
However, meeting EUDR demand for verifiable geospatial and land-use data across a fragmented smallholder-dominated landscape is proving to be a weak point.
“The main challenge is plot-level traceability and land legality verification across fragmented smallholder networks. Vietnam’s coffee sector is characterised by small, dispersed farms where record-keeping practices are often inconsistent,” said Lily Tran, business development lead at Koltiva, an Indonesian sustainable agriculture and supply chain traceability company.
Under EUDR, coffee must be traceable back to individual plots of land and verified as deforestation-free, with auditable data covering geolocation and historical land use.
However, Vietnam’s production landscape is dominated by smallholder farmers operating on small, often fragmented plots, many of whom lack formal or consistent record-keeping systems.
A 2025 survey by Forest Trends and Tavina illustrates the scale of the challenge. Nearly 60 per cent of smallholders surveyed did not maintain consistent harvest records, while only around 10 per cent kept plot-level data, creating a significant data gap at the very foundation of the supply chain.
“In practice, the key differentiator is not certification logos but access to verifiable, auditable data,” said Tran.
Tran reiterated that certifications are not sufficient to meet EUDR requirements. She elaborated that the regulation places stronger emphasis on auditable geospatial and supply-chain data.
“Certification increasingly functions as a supporting layer rather than standalone proof of compliance. Exporters must pair certificates with digital traceability systems to meet EU requirements.”
Digital traceability platforms are increasingly being deployed, but their effectiveness is limited.
“Digital traceability is a strong enabler for mapping, record-keeping, and supply-chain linkage. However, technology alone cannot fully resolve land legality gaps, farmer training needs, or institutional data alignment. Its effectiveness increases when paired with cooperative organisation, governance support, and consistent data standards. In other words, digital tools are necessary but not sufficient on their own,” said Manfred Borer, co-founder and CEO of Koltiva.
A ‘hidden bottleneck’
Tran highlighted land legality as another major issue that is not highlighted enough
“Land legality is often a hidden bottleneck. Even farms that are deforestation-free can face compliance issues if ownership or land-use documentation is incomplete. Strengthening local record systems and registry alignment is therefore as critical as environmental verification.”
As EUDR deadlines approach, European buyers are becoming more selective in their sourcing strategies.
Importers are increasingly prioritising exporters that can demonstrate compliance quickly and transparently.
“There are early signs of supplier consolidation, particularly among European importers prioritising partners who can demonstrate compliance quickly and transparently. This does not necessarily imply a reduction of Vietnam as a sourcing origin overall, but it may narrow relationships toward exporters with stronger documentation and data infrastructure. Exporters lacking plot-level verification could face challenges in maintaining or expanding EU contracts,” said Borer.
Despite these pressures, Vietnam is not expected to lose its position as a major coffee supplier to the EU.
“Vietnam is likely to remain an important EU supplier, but with a gradual structural shift. Rather than a sudden contraction in volume, the more probable scenario is a dual pathway where exporters investing early in verifiable compliance systems capture premium and long-term contracts, while others continue serving more price-sensitive segments. The transition is more about increasing the share of compliance-ready and value-added supply than reducing overall volume,” said Tran.
She added that Vietnam’s competitive challenge under EUDR is widely seen as administrative and governance-related rather than agronomic.
“Compared with more structured origins such as Brazil, Vietnam may face greater administrative and land documentation challenges, but it is ahead of several more fragmented origins where systemization is lower. The competitive gap is primarily digital and governance related rather than agronomic and could be closed quickly with traceability platforms and cooperative capacity-building,” said Tran.
Vietnam is likely to remain an important EU supplier, but will experience a gradual structure shift, said Tran.
“Rather than a sudden contraction in volume, the more probable scenario is a dual pathway where exporters investing early in verifiable compliance systems capture premium and long-term contracts, while others continue serving more price-sensitive segments. The transition is more about increasing the share of compliance-ready and value-added supply than reducing overall volume.”