HANOI: Vietnam’s coffee market remained lacklustre, with local prices falling this week as traders await new beans from the current crop season, traders said on Thursday.
Farmers in the Central Highlands, Vietnam’s coffee belt, sold beans at 91,000 dong to 92,500 dong (USD3.52 to USD3.58) per kg, down from last week’s 92,600 dong to 93,500 dong range.
January robusta coffee futures settled down USD60, or 2 percent, at USD3,364 a metric ton on Wednesday. Vietnam’s coffee association this week said that the country’s output in the 2025/26 crop year was estimated at nearly 1.9 million tons, up 6 percent to 10 percent from the previous season.
Traders and market participants expected the current crop season’s output would be broadly unchanged from the 2025/26 one. “Activities have not picked up yet. Some exporters have started to sound out prices but deals have not been struck,” said a trader based in the coffee belt.
The trader offered 5 percent black and broken-grade 2 robusta at a premium of USD150 to USD200 per ton to the January LIFFE contract.
Another trader offered 88,000 dong per kg for coffee to be delivered in December.
Industry participants said the El Niño climate phenomenon is expected to be very severe and could hit output in the 2027/28 crop. In Indonesia, Sumatra robusta coffee beans were offered at a USD165-USD200 premium to the November contract, compared with USD180-USD190 premium to the October contract last week, a trader said.