HANOI/BANDAR LAMPUNG: Vietnamese coffee prices rose on weather concerns and as London prices climbed, while Indonesian market remained subdued on weaker supplies, traders said on Thursday. Farmers in the Central Highlands, Vietnam’s largest coffee-growing area, sold beans at 40,100 dong to 41,200 dong ($1.71-$1.76) per kilogramme, slightly up from 40,000 dong to 41,000 dong a week ago. March robusta futures on ICE have gained $74 in the first two trading sessions of the new year, settling at $1,873 per tonne as of Wednesday’s close.

“The news about unusual heavy rains lashing down Vietnam’s coffee belt, Central Highlands, in the upcoming days has pushed the prices up,” said a trader based in Dak Lak province. “Farmers in some areas are still picking cherries but most of them are drying beans. However both works need the sun.”

Another trader also based in the region said farmers had already released beans to cash in for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. Traders in Vietnam offered 5% black and broken-grade 2 robusta at a discount of $80 per tonne to the May contract.

Trades in Indonesia’s Lampung province remained quiet after the year-end holidays and as market awaited new bean supplies from the next harvest. One trader offered $180 premium to the February contract, compared to $140-$150 premium of the January to February contracts last week.

Another trader offered $100 premium to the January contract, unchanged from last week. Indonesia exported 28,751.21 tonnes of Sumatra robusta coffee beans in November, more than doubling on an yearly basis, data from a local trade office showed last Friday.