Vietnam's domestic coffee was slow as farmers held beans fearing crop failure even as stockpile averted exporters from buying further, traders said on Tuesday. Coffee prices in Daklak, Vietnam's largest growing province rose to 45,000-47,000 dong ($1.98-$2.07) per kg, from 44,500-45,000 dong last Thursday, as farmers pushed prices ahead of an expected shortage for the 2016/2017 crop year.
"Those exporters who do not have enough beans would have to accept this price, but actually most of them have already had quite a sufficient amount in store," said a Vietnamese trader. Discounts on 5-pct black and broken grade 2 robusta in Vietnam were stable on Tuesday at $65-$70 a tonne below the London's ICE May contract, which dropped 5.2 percent from a record high hit on February 1.
Vietnam, the world's top robusta producer, exported 140,300 tonnes (2.3 million 60-kg bags) of coffee in January, down 20.5 percent from a year earlier, while traders expect February shipments would reach 110,000-140,000 tonnes. The Southeast Asian nation is expected to produce 24.5 million bags of coffee during the 2016-2017 crop, which lasts from October last year to September this year, a recent Reuters poll showed.
Published under arrangements with Reuters.
No content from Business Recorder shall be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication, or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Business Recorder shall not be responsible or held liable for any error of fact, opinion or recommendation and also for any loss, financial or otherwise, resulting from business or trade or speculation conducted, or investments made, on the basis of the information posted here. Nor shall Business Recorder be held liable for any actions taken in consequence." >Copyright Reuters, 2017