Son La Coffee Festival 2026 to feature a wide range of exciting activities

On the afternoon of April 20, the People's Committee of Son La Province held a conference to discuss the development orientation of Arabica coffee in Son La and to collect feedback on the draft plan to organize the second Son La Coffee Festival in 2026. The event is expected to draw significant attention from domestic and international visitors, coffee experts, and businesses. It will also create opportunities for networking, knowledge exchange, and long-term cooperation among stakeholders.

Diverse activities on a large scale

According to the draft plan, the Son La Coffee Festival 2026 will take place from October 9 to 13 on a large scale, featuring a wide range of creative activities across wards such as To Hieu, Chieng Coi, Chieng An and Chieng Sinh, as well as key coffee-growing areas. The large-scale organization reflects the province’s determination to elevate the festival into a national-level event with increasing international engagement in the coming years.

The highlight will be the live-broadcast opening ceremony, accompanied by a series of events including a trade fair and exhibition with around 200 booths; a seminar on “Sustainable coffee development in an ecological direction”; a coffee trade connectivity conference; a photo exhibition on coffee; and a farmers’ competition. In addition, various cultural and artistic performances reflecting the unique ethnic identities of Son La will create a vibrant exchange space for both residents and visitors. Street performances, traditional costume showcases, and local cuisine experiences are expected to offer diverse and immersive experiences, helping promote the image of Son La’s land and people.

Notably, this year’s festival will introduce several new highlights such as the “Arabica Son La Master Cup” competition, the “Arabica Son La” Marathon passing through coffee-growing and check-in experiences at coffee hills. Programs like “Melodies of Arabica Son La” and the “Coffee Farm Experience” will allow visitors to explore coffee production, processing and tasting directly at farms. These activities not only attract tourists but also enhance experiential value, positioning coffee as a signature tourism product of the locality.

Alongside these events, Son La Province will implement multi-platform communication campaigns, build a geographical indication identity system for Son La coffee, organize digital content creation contests, and launch national and international media campaigns linked to the World Brewers Cup 2026. This combination of modern communication and international events is expected to elevate Son La coffee’s position on the global coffee map and expand export markets. It also helps strengthen brand recognition and build a consistent image for Son La coffee in global supply chains.

Affirming the position of Arabica Son La coffee

Currently, Son La Province has 33,628 hectares of coffee, producing 37,724 tons of green coffee beans, with more than 35,400 hectares certified as sustainable or equivalent.

The province has developed concentrated production areas and value chain linkages, with five OCOP products and a maintained geographical indication “Son La Coffee” for eight organizations. These results reflect a positive shift from fragmented production to larger-scale operations associated with quality standards and traceability.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Viet, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Son La Province, emphasized that coffee, especially Arabica, has become a strategic crop contributing significantly to agricultural economic development, improving incomes and strengthening the province’s key agricultural brand.

However, the coffee sector still faces challenges such as small-scale production, weak value chain linkages, low deep-processing rates and increasingly strict traceability requirements. These issues require coordinated efforts from authorities, businesses and stakeholders to enhance competitiveness.

The organization of the second Son La Coffee Festival not only builds on the success of the 2023 event but also serves as a key step in promoting the province’s image, attracting investment, boosting tourism, and honoring coffee growers, processors, and traders. Through this event, Son La also aims to encourage innovation in processing and product diversification, creating higher added value for coffee products.

With the goal of making Arabica Son La a strong and internationally competitive brand, the province aims to maintain about 35,000 hectares of coffee by 2030, with an output of 420,000 tons of fresh coffee cherries. At the same time, it plans to develop nearly 6,000 hectares of specialty coffee, ensure over 80% of harvested areas meet sustainable certification standards, and gradually digitize growing areas to meet traceability requirements under EUDR.