Asia Coffee: Vietnam domestic prices inch up on tight supplies, global cues

HANOI/BANDAR LAMPUNG: Vietnam’s domestic coffee prices edged up on Thursday from a week earlier, following a rise in robusta futures on ICE and limited domestic supplies, while stocks continued to build up in Indonesia, traders said.

Farmers in the Central Highlands, Vietnam’s largest coffee-growing area, sold coffee at 41,400-43,100 dong($1.78-$1.86), up from last week’s 40,600-41,700 dong.

The London ICE September contract settled up $29, or 1%, higher at $2,139 per tonne on Wednesday.

“Domestic prices are higher this week following a rise in global prices and limited stocks at the end of the crop season,” said a trader based in the coffee belt. “Weather condition in general is favourable for the trees but floods were recorded in some minor places in Daklak past week,” the trader added.

Traders in Vietnam offered 5% black and broken-grade 2 robusta at a discount range of $230-$240 per tonne, compared with last week’s $250-$270 range.

Coffee exports from Vietnam are estimated to increase 24.2% in the first five months of this year, from a year earlier, to 889,000 tonnes, government data showed. Traders in Indonesia’s Lampung province offered Sumatran robusta beans with $170 to $180 discount to the July contract and $250 to the September contract.