Asia's coffee supplies are seen low as torrential rains in Vietnam continued to hurt crop and beans quality while harvest season has ended in Indonesia, traders said on Thursday. Vietnamese exporters quoted discounts of $50 to $60 a tonne below the ICE March contract for robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken beans, narrowing slightly from a week ago, but buyers bid at $80 discount.
"The market is quiet; there is not much supply while buyers are not really keen," said Le Tien Hung, general director of SIMEXCO, an exporter in Daklak, Vietnam's largest coffee growing province. Vietnam's coffee exports last month fell 2.3 percent from October to 114,700 tonnes, but exports in December are expected to increase to 150,000 tonnes during the cherry picking process.
In Indonesia, Vietnam's rival producer, supply remains low since the harvest season has passed, while demand is normal. Traders quoted robusta grade 4, 80 defects at $40 to $60 premium a tonne to the ICE January contract, slightly widening from a week earlier, traders in Bandar Lampung said.