Coffee prices in Vietnam's domestic market jumped around 4 percent this week to 37.1 million dong ($1,907) per tonne on Friday, even though supply is ample as the harvest draws to an end, traders said. Robusta beans jumped from around 35.7 million dong per tonne on Monday in Daklak, the country's top growing province, tracking a rise in London robusta futures which closed strong after touching a 2-1/4-year high.
Coffee prices in Vietnam were approaching a level of 37.4 million dong recorded on August 6, 2008, as roasters have been switching to buying cheaper robusta beans given the surge in arabica market in the past month. In Vietnam, the world's second-largest coffee producer after Brazil and the biggest in robusta production, fresh beans have become ample after rains had delayed the start of the harvesting to November, a month later than usual.
A trader at a foreign company in Ho Chi Minh City said the harvest ended this week in most of the Central Highlands coffee belt, giving a strong boost to domestic supply. A coffee exporter based in Daklak province said his company's warehouse in Ho Chi Minh City has been busy taking in cargoes from the Central Highlands region, which produces around 80 percent of Vietnam's coffee. The 2010/2011 harvest could fall around 15 percent from earlier forecasts to 16.7 million bags due to "unfavourable weather," Deputy Agriculture Minister Diep Kinh Tan was quoted by state media on Tuesday.
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