Asia coffee: Trade tepid post holiday in Vietnam, premiums up in Indonesia

HANOI/BANDAR LAMPUNG, (Indonesia): Trading activities stayed lacklustre in Vietnam, the world’s biggest robusta producer after holidays, traders said on Thursday, while premiums were up in Indonesia amid an expectation of a June harvest.

Farmers in the central highlands, Vietnam’s largest coffee-growing area, were selling beans for 132,500-133,200 dong ($5.22-$5.25) per kg, up from last week’s 128,200- 129,500 dong range.

Vietnam’s market was closed for holidays until Wednesday this week. Robusta coffee for July delivery shed 11% since the beginning, at $3,706 per metric ton on Wednesday.

“Prices were down after news on scattered rains in Vietnam,” said a trader based in the coffee belt. “However, that amount of rain was not enough for the trees, dryness in the region remains a big concern.”

Vietnam exported 756,000 metric tons of coffee in the first four months of this year, up 5.4% from a year earlier, government data released on Monday showed. Coffee export revenue in the same period rose 58% to $2.57 billion.

Indonesia exported 3,093.4 metric tons of robusta coffee beans from the island of Sumatra, down 58.9% from the same month last year, data from the trade office in coffee hub Lampung province showed.

Sumatra robusta beans in Lampung Province were offered with $720-$820 to the May contract, up from $600 premium last week, one trader offered, while another trader quoted $875-$975 premium to the July contract, up from $500-$560 last week.

“Today’s price is very baffling cause the surge is just unpredictable for the July contract,” the second trader said. However, most traders are still waiting for new beans and are only keeping contracted stocks.