A green coffee offer arrives with a screen size, a moisture percentage and a defect count, and none of those three numbers means what a first-time buyer assumes it means. Vietnam is the world’s largest Robusta producer, but the grading vocabulary on a Vietnamese contract is its own national standard, not the vocabulary of the origin you last bought from.
💬 Buying green coffee out of Vietnam for the first time and want the contract terms checked before you confirm? Tell us the grade and volume and we will read the offer with you.
Where does Vietnamese coffee actually come from, and does that decide the variety?
Almost all of Vietnam’s coffee grows in the Central Highlands, where the lower, warmer plateaus around Dak Lak produce Robusta at scale and the higher, cooler ground around Da Lat and the Cau Dat area — inside what is now Lam Dong province after the 2025 provincial mergers — produces the country’s Arabica.
Robusta accounts for the overwhelming majority of national output, grown on volcanic soil across the Central Highlands provinces, with the area around Buon Ma Thuot long established as the country’s largest Robusta-growing district. Arabica is the minority crop, concentrated at higher elevation where the cooler climate suits it — Cau Dat, near Da Lat, is the name buyers most often see attached to Vietnamese specialty Arabica lots. A buyer asking only for “Vietnamese coffee” without naming Robusta or Arabica and a growing area is leaving the variety, and therefore the cup profile, to whichever the supplier happens to have in the warehouse.
Vietnam’s provincial map changed in 2025 — several provinces merged into larger units — so a contract or a certificate written before mid-2025 may show a province name that no longer exists on the current map even though the growing area itself has not moved. Match the district or locality name, not only the province name, when you are confirming where a lot actually came from.
How does the Vietnamese grading standard actually work?
TCVN 4193, Vietnam’s national standard for green coffee, grades a lot by screen (bean) size, moisture content and a defect count converted from black beans, broken beans and foreign matter — and a contract that only states “Grade 1” without the underlying numbers has not actually fixed the quality.
Screen size describes what fraction of the beans are retained on a given sieve — a common commercial specification for Vietnamese Robusta is “Screen 18,” meaning the great majority of beans sit on a 7.14 mm round-hole screen or larger. Moisture is stated as a maximum percentage; export lots are typically specified below 12.5%, and a lot delivered wetter than the contracted figure is at real risk of mould and weight loss in transit. The defect count converts black beans, broken beans, shell and foreign matter into a single score under TCVN 4193’s tables, and different quality tiers — a plain cleaned lot against a further, optically colour-sorted lot — carry materially different black-bean, broken-bean and foreign-matter limits.
Put all three figures in the contract, not just the grade name: screen size, maximum moisture, and the defect count or the specific black/broken/foreign-matter limits you expect. “Grade 1” or “Grade 2” by itself is a label a Vietnamese exporter applies against the standard, and exporters do not all apply it with the same margin.
💬 A grading dispute after the container has sailed is far harder to resolve than one settled before the contract is signed. See how to compare Vietnamese supplier quotations for the wider version of this problem, or send us the offer.
What should you actually ask for in samples?
Ask for a pre-shipment sample drawn from the specific lot you are buying, not a general house sample, and check it against the same screen, moisture and defect figures the contract states before the lot is packed for export.
A general or “type” sample tells you what the exporter’s coffee typically looks like; it does not tell you what is inside the specific lot allocated to your contract. Where the trade allows for it, ask for the sample to be drawn after the lot has been screened and cleaned to the contracted specification, and compare it against the contract figures point by point — screen size, moisture, defect count — rather than by cupping alone. A cup can taste acceptable while the physical grading figures sit outside what was agreed, and it is the physical figures a claim is usually settled against.
Which certificate actually has to travel with the shipment?
A phytosanitary certificate, issued by Vietnam’s plant protection authority after inspection, has to accompany the shipment to satisfy the importing country’s plant-quarantine requirement — it is a plant-health document, not a quality or grading certificate.
The exporter applies for the phytosanitary certificate before shipment; the authority inspects the lot (and, where wooden pallets or packaging are used, checks that they carry the fumigation mark required under the international wood-packaging standard) and issues the certificate confirming the shipment is free of the pests and organisms the importing country’s plant-quarantine rules are concerned with. This is separate from, and does not substitute for, a certificate of origin, which is a trade-preference or customs document rather than a plant-health one. Ask your supplier which specific document — phytosanitary certificate, certificate of origin, or both — your destination country’s import rules actually require, because assuming one covers the other is a common and avoidable hold-up at the receiving port. If a preferential tariff is riding on the certificate of origin, the form that actually leaves Vietnam depends on your destination market: see proof of origin from Vietnam by destination.
💬 Sunsho Trade coordinates sourcing and shipment documentation out of Vietnam for buyers who are not on the ground here. See how our sourcing service works, or get in touch with your specification.
What should the contract actually fix?
Beyond price and volume, a green coffee contract should fix the grading standard by name, the sampling method and timing, the moisture and defect limits with a stated tolerance, and what happens if the pre-shipment sample and the contract figures disagree.
| Contract term | What to specify |
|---|---|
| Grading reference | Name TCVN 4193 explicitly, plus the specific screen size and quality tier, not just “Grade 1” |
| Moisture | A maximum percentage, and whether it is checked at loading, on arrival, or both |
| Defect count | The specific black-bean, broken-bean and foreign-matter limits, or the equivalent defect-count figure |
| Sampling | When and how the pre-shipment sample is drawn, and against which figures it is checked |
| Origin | The district or locality, not only the province — useful given the 2025 province mergers |
| Remedy on mismatch | Whether a below-specification lot is rejected, re-screened, or price-adjusted, and who bears that cost |
A contract silent on the last row leaves the remedy to be negotiated after the disagreement has already happened, which is the worst time to negotiate it.
Frequently asked questions
1. What does “Screen 18” mean on a Vietnamese Robusta offer?
It states the minimum bean size: the great majority of the beans in the lot are retained on an approximately 7.14 mm round-hole screen, as defined under Vietnam’s TCVN 4193 grading standard. It says nothing on its own about moisture or defect count, so ask for those separately.
2. Is Vietnamese coffee mostly Robusta or Arabica?
Overwhelmingly Robusta, grown across the Central Highlands. Arabica is a minority crop grown at higher elevation, most associated with the Cau Dat area near Da Lat.
3. Does a phytosanitary certificate confirm the coffee’s grade or quality?
No. It confirms the shipment has been inspected and found free of the pests and organisms the destination country’s plant-quarantine rules cover. Grade and quality are matters for the contract and the pre-shipment sample, not this certificate.
4. Why does the province name on an older document not match what I find when I search for it now?
Vietnam consolidated its 63 provinces into 34 in 2025. Some Central Highlands provinces merged into larger units, so a certificate or contract written before the change may show a province name that no longer appears on the current administrative map even though the growing area itself has not moved.
5. What happens if the pre-shipment sample does not match the contracted grading figures?
That depends entirely on what the contract says. If the contract is silent, the two sides are negotiating a remedy after the mismatch is already discovered, with no agreed basis for whether the lot is rejected, re-screened or the price is adjusted. Fix this term before the contract is signed, not after.
Checked on 25 September 2026.
Sources:
- TCVN 4193:2014, Vietnam’s national green coffee standard (Ministry of Science and Technology)
- Vietnam Plant Protection Department, phytosanitary certification procedure for exported goods
- International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15 (ISPM 15), wood packaging material treatment
- Resolution 202/2025/QH15 on the 2025 reorganisation of Vietnam’s provincial administrative units