BANDAR LAMPUNG: Vietnamese farmers held back from selling coffee beans because of unattractive offered prices, traders said on Thursday as trade remained sluggish in Asia’s top coffee markets.

Farmers in the Central Highlands sold coffee at 38,800-40,700 dong ($1.71-$1.80) per kg, down from last week’s range of 39,300-41,000 dong.

“Prices now are not attractive enough for farmers to release beans,” said one trader based in the coffee belt, adding that there is also demand weakness because of prolonged shipping disruption.

Farmers had sold 20-30% of their stocks, traders said.

Traders in Vietnam offered 5% black and broken grade 2 robusta at discounts of $250-$270 per tonne to the May contract, down from $240-$250 last week. Another trader quoted a $400 discount to the May contract.

March robusta coffee was up $30, or 1%, at $2,225 a tonne on Wednesday. Vietnam’s coffee exports in December rose 57.6% from November to 169,349 tonnes. Vietnam exported 1.56 million tonnes of coffee last year, down 0.2% from 2020, Vietnam Customs said in a statement.

In Indonesia’s Lampung province, robusta beans were offered at a $120 a tonne discount for February shipments, narrowing from a $170 discount last week, one trader said. Another trader offered a $250 discount to the March contract, unchanged from last week. Bean availability remains low, but traders expect supplies will build up when a mini-harvest starts in April.