Vietnam coffee prices inch up as Indonesia awaits new stock

COFFEE prices in Vietnam rose slightly this week on growing demand for robusta beans as Indonesia’s new stock had not arrived.

Traders said on Thursday (Feb 9) that Vietnamese farmers were in no rush to sell their stock. Farmers in the Central Highlands region, the country’s largest coffee-growing area, sold beans for 42,400 dong to 44,000 dong (S$2.38 to S$2.47) per kg. Last week, prices ranged from 41,199 dong to 43,700 dong.

A trader based in Vietnam’s so-called coffee belt said: “Some Indonesia-based buyers are turning to Vietnam for beans, while farmers here are selling, but not in bulk.

“Both qualities and quantities of Vietnamese robusta beans this crop year are at good levels, so farmers can benefit from the recovery of global demand.”

May robusta futures on the Intercontinental Exchange settled at US$2,057 per tonne at Wednesday’s close, down by US$18 per tonne.

Vietnam’s coffee exports in January stood at 142,544 tonnes. Government customs data showed that this was down 27.7 per cent from the month before. Coffee export revenue reached US$310 million, down 27 per cent month on month.

A Reuters poll released this week showed that Vietnam was forecast to have a crop of 31 million bags in 2023/24, up from 30 million in 2022/23. Each bag typically has a weight of 60 kg.

In Indonesia’s Lampung province, one trader offered a US$110 premium to the March contract. Another offered a premium of US$140 to US$150 to the February contract, largely unchanged from a week earlier.

One trader said that prices did not change much, explaining that “trade is still very limited because it is not harvest season yet”.

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The main coffee harvest in the southern region of Indonesia’s Sumatra island typically falls around the middle of the year. But some areas may start producing coffee cherries earlier, around April to May. REUTERS