The northern Vietnamese province of Son La has begun the work of re-examining all the coffee orchards within the province. On September 23 and 24, the province's Department of Agriculture and Environment held a meeting to take stock of coffee sitting on forestry land and to build cultivation-site data in line with the EU's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Those who took part were representatives of the 28 main coffee districts and some companies and cooperatives in the province. The deadline the province set is December 30, 2026, and this date becomes the negotiation calendar when Japanese roasters and trading houses buy next season's Son La coffee.
Son La re-examines 36,400 ha of coffee across 48 districts, district by district
What the two-day meeting aligned was how to draw the plots and the procedure for coordination
On August 21, the Son La Province People's Committee issued Plan 231/KH-UBND to advance the stocktake of coffee on forestry land, the building of cultivation-site data, and traceability. This meeting was its execution version, where guidance was given on drawing plots, the procedure for matching maps interpreted from remote-sensing imagery against on-site samples, how to use the survey tools, and the method for assessing risk classification. The division of roles between the province's Department of Agriculture and Environment and each district People's Committee was also unified here.
The trial stocktake covered 8,352 ha in two districts, 22.9% of the whole province
As of the end of July 2026, coffee in the province covered about 36,400 ha across 48 districts (xã, phường). Of these, a trial stocktake was completed for two districts, Nam Lau (Nậm Lầu) and Muong Chanh (Mường Chanh), covering 8,352 ha. 8,352 divided by 36,400 is 22.9%, matching the ratio the original gives. What remains is about 29,000 ha in 46 districts. The plan is to focus first on 28 priority districts, then expand to all 48.
Three classes — low, medium, high — split where a lot can be sold
Group 1 goes on the priority list for export
Low risk is a lot whose plot is entirely on farmland, outside the planning zone of the three forest types, with no change in forest conversion since December 31, 2020, and with lawful documentation of farmland use in order. This area goes on the cultivation-site list prioritizing traceability for export. The province's plan places this December 31, 2020 as the axis of judgment for all three classes, and a plot cleared after that boundary falls to the high-risk side.
Group 2 is conditioned on on-site inspection and supplementing documents
Medium risk is a plot that falls into any of these: on farmland but adjacent to a forestry-land planning zone; showing signs of a change in vegetation cover before December 31, 2020 requiring additional verification; or with insufficient documents showing the origin of land use. On-site confirmation, document preparation, and monitoring measures are required as a set. For a buyer it is an area neither black nor white, and there is room to move to Group 1 if the documents come in time.
Group 3 goes to legal handling and is dropped from Europe-bound
High risk is a plot on the planning zone of the three forest types, where forest was converted or cleared after December 31, 2020, or where image interpretation confirms that natural forest or plantation was removed for coffee. On the plan it falls short of meeting EUDR's requirements and becomes subject to handling under the provisions of the Land Law and the Forestry Law. How much area falls here — no figure exists until the stocktake is finished. How it will affect the whole producing area's supply volume awaits disclosure.
December 30 is Son La's deadline, coinciding with the day EUDR reaches large and medium operators
The province's completion target and the EU side's start of application line up on the same day
The December 30 in the article is the stocktake-completion target the province set for itself, and it is not written as EUDR's own deadline. On the other hand, the European Commission's official page states that EUDR applies to large and medium operators from December 30, 2026, to small and micro ones from June 30, 2027, and to small and micro ones that had been subject to the old EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) from December 30, 2026. With the province's deadline and the EU side's first day aligned, whether the ledger comes in time directly affects the first year for Europe.
Instant coffee comes under from December 30, 2027, a year later
According to the European Commission, soluble coffee (instant), some palm-oil derivatives, and frozen beef tongue, added to the covered items by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102, come under the regulation from December 30, 2027. Because the application date differs by a year between roasted beans and ground coffee and instant, contract processing that uses Vietnamese raw material and also ships to Europe will need to manage by separate deadlines.
Area of 36,397 ha, 40,000 tonnes of green beans, certification at a cumulative 35,465 ha
Here we line up the figures the same Son La Department of Agriculture and Environment presented in July.
| Indicator | Figure | Point in time |
|---|---|---|
| Coffee area | 36,397 ha (48 districts) | End of July 2026 |
| Green bean output (projected) | about 40,000 tonnes | 2026 |
| Trial stocktake completed | 8,352 ha (2 districts, 22.9% of the whole) | September 2026 |
| Remaining to be stocktaken | about 29,000 ha (46 districts) | September 2026 |
| Sustainability-equivalent certifications (cumulative) | 35,465ha | July 2026 |
| Production heading toward organic | 543.7ha | July 2026 |
| Companies and cooperatives involved in production and processing | 28 | July 2026 |
Yield is about 1.1 tonnes per ha; read the certified area as 'cumulative'
Dividing 36,397 ha by about 40,000 tonnes gives about 1.1 tonnes per ha. The certified area of 35,465 ha is a cumulative figure, where the same orchard is counted more than once across multiple certifications. The fact that it is almost the same as the total area cannot be read as the whole being certified. Production heading toward organic is 543.7 ha, under 1.5% by area.
The central shared database is free of charge, and its use is not mandatory
Nguyen Quoc Manh, deputy director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment's Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, explains that the cultivation-site database the ministry is involved in building is a shared foundation supporting localities' and companies' EUDR compliance, that its use is not mandatory, and that after official release it will be provided free of charge and devolved to localities. Companies can integrate the raw-material-site data they built themselves into the shared side, with no need to collect it again from scratch. This system was trial-introduced in Lam Dong and Dak Lak Provinces from January 2024, and data was gathered for over 151,000 ha of coffee.
Four points Japanese roasters and trading houses should confirm in this season's negotiations
Don't ask 'EUDR-compliant' in a lump; separate classification and positioning rate
Vu Viet Thang, general director of Phuc Sinh Son La, which has a high Europe-bound ratio in Son La, says that about 60% of annual output is exported to the European market, that training was given to all cooperating farming households, and that 65% of the orchards were GPS-positioned. The remaining 35% have not been positioned. While positive about sharing data with the administration, he also calls for quickly unifying the system for management, updating, and use to avoid duplication between companies. What a buyer should ask is not 'are you compliant' but two things: the proportion of orchards that have been positioned, and the classification of the lot you are buying.
Group 1 becomes an area contested with Europe-bound demand
EUDR is not a regulation that imposes a legal obligation on imports to Japan. Even so, once Group 1 is prepared as 'export priority,' a priority order arises inside the supplier. Because the destination of lots from the same orchard is sorted by the European side's yardstick, Japanese buyers stand both in a position to more easily choose compliant lots and in a position to contest the same area as Europe-bound demand. Whether you secure volume first or choose on quality after the classification is fixed shifts the timing of ordering. Son La producers are also showing moves to seek direct sales channels via live streaming, and the scene of Son La farmers seeking smartphone sales channels and this ledger-building raise transaction transparency from different directions. For an example leaning toward deep processing, there is Cau Dat's organic Arabica deep processing, and for an attempt to drop producing-area data onto a physical ID, there is Binh Dien's experiment attaching RFID to fertilizer bags as comparison material.
US$37 and 4,000 dong — always separate the unit price by stage
Exchange rates were calculated at US$1 = ¥158.68 and 10,000 dong = ¥61.1 as of September 25, 2026.
| Price | Original notation | Yen conversion | Trading stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bich Thao cooperative's Bourbon green beans | US$37/kg (US$30/kg the previous year) | about ¥5,870/kg | Green beans for export. The terms (FOB/CIF) are not stated in the original |
| The same cooperative's roasted ground coffee | up to 1.5 triệu đồng/kg (1.5 million dong) | about ¥9,170/kg | A level the cooperative cites as reached. The sales stage is not stated in the original |
| Coffee in 2014–15 (recollection) | about 4,000 đồng/kg (4,000 dong) | about ¥24/kg | The level farmers received at the field |
| The picking wage of the same period | 3,000 đồng (no unit stated in the original) | about ¥18 | Picking wage at the field. The context is per kg |
US$37/kg is the price of export green beans of the Bourbon variety that the Bich Thao cooperative reached in 2025 — neither the commodity Arabica market nor a landed-in-Japan price. The cooperative ships 97% of its specialty coffee to over 20 countries, including Japan, Germany, the U.S., and South Korea. The 4,000 dong/kg of 2014–15 that its head, Nguyen Xuan Thao, speaks of is the farmer's take at the field, three orders of magnitude apart. If using it as the base of an estimate, first confirm whether it is delivered-at-field, export green bean, or landed-in-Japan。
The next move: a single message asking three points on classification and positioning status
There is no need to wait for December 30. You can start by asking, in a single message, your Son La exporter or cooperative three points: (1) which of Groups 1–3 the lot you buy is expected to fall into, (2) the proportion of the relevant orchards that have finished GPS positioning, and (3) whether there is a plan to register with the province's ledger and the central shared database. The province's Department of Agriculture and Environment has set up 16 working teams with a mission period through November 30, 2026. October and November are when survey staff enter the field, a time when concrete answers come back easily.
Sources referenced
- Báo Nông nghiệp và Môi trường, 'Son La fully re-examines coffee cultivation sites for EUDR compliance,' September 25, 2026
- same paper, 'Son La coffee accelerates standardization toward EUDR compliance,' July 28, 2026
- same paper, 'The grit to send Son La coffee beans out to the world,' November 16, 2025
- European Commission Directorate-General for Environment, 'Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)'
