HANOI: Vietnam’s weekly domestic coffee prices were unchanged amid subdued activities, while the Indonesian market is expected to stay indifferent until a mini harvest in March, traders said on Thursday.
Farmers in the Central Highlands, Vietnam’s coffee-growing capital, sold coffee at 31,200-31,700 dong ($1.35-$1.39) per kg, unchanged from last week.
May robusta coffee settled up $25, or 2%, at $1,343 per tonne on Wednesday.
“Shipping container shortage, low prices and the reemergence of the virus contributed to a subdued market this week,” said a trader based in the coffee belt.
Vietnam has locked down two remote districts in the coffee-growing Central Highlands province of Gia Lai following the reintroduction of coronavirus restrictions last week.
“Gia Lai is not a big bean supplier but the situation there definitely hurt sentiment,” the trader added.
Traders in Vietnam offered 5% black and broken grade 2 robusta at premiums of $90-$100 to the May contract, up from last week’s $70-$80.
Coffee exports from Vietnam are estimated to have dropped 17.6% in January from a year earlier to 120,000 tonnes, equal to 2 million 60-kg bags, the country’s General Statistics Office said.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s exported 8,055.9 tonnes of Sumatra’s robusta coffee beans from Lampung province in January, down 18% from a year earlier, official data showed.
Robusta beans in Lampung province were offered with a $250 premium to the March contract and a $290 premium to April, according to local traders, both unchanged from last week, as supplies remain scarce before the harvest. “What remaining stocks at exporters warehouses are only to fulfil their existing contracts,” one of the traders said.
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