Coffee sales slow in Vietnam on low supplies, Indonesia discounts steady

[HANOI] Coffee supplies tightened in Vietnam this week as farmers who have already sold most of their stocks held onto the remaining beans in hope for higher prices, while discounts in Indonesia were little changed as beans just started arriving from a mini harvest, traders said.

Farmers in the Central Highlands, Vietnam's largest coffee-growing area, sold coffee COFVN-DAK at 41,100 to 42,000 dong (S$2.42 to S$2.47) per kg, little changed from last week's 41,200 to 42,400 dong range.

"Stockpile held by farmers now is not enough for us, while supplies in Indonesia are not coming in bulk yet," said a trader based in the coffee belt.

"At the same time farmers are asking for higher prices due to rising production costs." Traders in Vietnam offered 5 per cent black and broken-grade 2 robusta COFVN-G25-SAI at a discount range of US$240 to US$250 per tonne to the July contract, unchanged from last week.

The London ICE May contract settled up US$2 at US$2,142 per tonne on Wednesday (Mar 30).

Coffee exports from Vietnam are estimated to have risen 19.4 per cent in the first 3 months of this year from a year earlier to 541,000 tonnes, official data showed. The country's coffee shipments in March are estimated at 170,000 tonnes, valued at US$394 million.

In Indonesia's Lampung province, robusta beans for shipments in May and onwards were offered at discounts of US$150 to US$160, compared with the US$150 discount last week to the April to May contracts.

Another trader said the discount remained unchanged at US$200 to the May contract as farmers started supplying new beans from a mini harvest, even though not all areas in Lampung saw harvest.

"Not all areas are having this mini harvest. So far, beans are only in the western Lampung region," one of the traders said. REUTERS