Discounts for Vietnamese coffee narrowed this week in quiet trading as farmers held back supplies, while prices remained stable in Indonesia on limited supply, traders said on Thursday. Coffee prices in Daklak, Vietnam's largest growing province rose to 46,000-47,300 dong ($2.0-$2.1) per kg, from 45,200-46,600 dong a week ago.
"Farmers were holding beans to wait for higher prices," said independent analyst Nguyen Quang Binh. Some traders said discounts on 5-pct black and broken grade 2 robusta in Vietnam were quoted at $40-$85 a tonne below the London's ICE May contract, narrowing from $40-$100 a tonne last week. "Market was quiet as foreign importers were not in urgent need to buy while farmers were also reluctant to sell," said a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City.
Robusta coffee May futures extended its upward trend to the second straight day with a 0.3 percent increase to $2,149 per tonne. Vietnam could export an estimated 130,000 tonnes (2.2 million 60-kg bags) of coffee in February, up 9.2 percent from a year ago. The country is expected to ship between 140,000-160,000 tonnes of coffee this month.
Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Vietnam's major rival, supplies were barely changed, with the robusta grade 4, 80 defects quoted at a premium of $10-$20 a tonne to the May contract, compared with $3-$10 a week earlier, exporters said. An official with the Indonesian Coffee Exporters Association in Lampung said on Wednesday some cherry output was expected in April or May before the big harvest around June.
He also said coffee exported through Lampung was now sourced from farmers from surrounding provinces. Coffee bean exports from Indonesia's main growing area of Lampung rose 45 percent in February from the same month a year earlier.
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