Cheap Vietnamese robusta has attracted buying interest from roasters, but exporters in Indonesia were reluctant to offer beans because of uncertainty in the next harvest, dealers said on Wednesday. Harvests in Indonesia's main growing island of Sumatra usually start in March or April, but farmers have been picking cherries this month as the flowering season began earlier in some areas after the previous crop ended in August last year.
Indonesian export-grade 4, 80 defect beans, were offered at a discount of $25 to $50 to London's March contract , steady from last week. Vietnamese beans fetched bigger discounts of more than $100 a tonne. "I am sure buyers will be comparing prices. Vietnamese beans equivalent to grade 80 defect is at discount of $100 FOB. I guess they will just turn to Vietnam," said a dealer in Bandar Lampung, the provincial capital of Lampung on Sumatra. Indonesia's coffee output is estimated at 10.75 million 60-kg bags in the crop year to September 2011, down nearly 6 percent from the previous crop, the International Coffee Organisation said.
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