HANOI: Trading in major Asian coffee producers was dull on Thursday, with Vietnam seeing low activity due to tepid demand and shortage of shipping containers since last month, while the Indonesian market was muted at the end of the harvest season, traders said.
Farmers in the Central Highlands, Vietnam’s coffee-growing capital, sold coffee at 31,200-32,000 dong ($1.35-$1.39) per kg, down from 32,200-32,600 dong last week.
March robusta coffee rebounded to $1,332 per tonne on Wednesday after having lost $84 in the past consecutive seven days.
“Trade is still very dull as the container shortage problem continued to send freight rates soaring, which made it hard for exporters to ship beans,” said a trader based in the coffee belt.
Traders in Vietnam offered 5% black and broken grade 2 robusta at premiums of $100-$110 to the March contract, higher than $90-$100 premiums last week.
Vietnam’s coffee exports in December rose 66.1% on-month to 139,046 tonnes. The country exported 1.6 million tonnes of coffee last year, down 5.6% from 2019, data from customs showed.
In Indonesia’s Lampung province, robusta for March contract are offered at $250 premium, down from $275 premium last week.
“Market is still quiet, we may lose buyers if the premium is too high,” a trader said.
Stock remains low, local traders said, as farmers are yet to harvest their beans. Main coffee harvest in the southern part of Sumatara typically falls around mid-year, but smaller harvests often take place around March or April.
Meanwhile, another trader said robusta beans are offered with $290 premium to the April contract, up from around $280 premium last week, to compensate for lower benchmark contract price.
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