Stocks of robusta beans in the world's top exporter Vietnam have been plentiful as the harvest comes to an end, but local sellers are not unloading the coffee quickly on hopes of more gains, traders said on Tuesday.
"Farmers have been selling beans to middlemen for cash before the holidays, but the latter do not want to sell (to exporters) as they have seen recent gains in London," said a trader in Ho Chi Minh City.
Traders said the harvest had been completed for around 80 percent of the 2003/2004 crop and would finish in the Central Highlands coffee belt later this month, and perhaps even before Vietnam marks the Lunar New Year Tet festival on January 21.
On Monday London March contracts gained $18 to close at $738 a tonne on speculative and fund buying.
Prices in Vietnam tracked the rise, with domestic prices in the key growing province of Daklak edging to 9,350 dong (59.85 cents) per kg on Tuesday from 9,150 dong on Monday and 9,050-9,100 dong early last week.
Export offers of five percent black and broken beans firmed to $650-$660 per tonne, FOB basis, from $620-$630 last week. Buyers said bids were around $635-$640 which sellers found acceptable.
Discounts to March contracts widened to $90-$95 a tonne from $85-$90 last month but traders said they could still find sellers at those bids.
"Vietnam's selling trend is to sell at a slow pace to watch international prices which are on the rise now," said another trader from a foreign firm.
Government statistics put Vietnam's coffee shipment in the October-December period - the first quarter of the 2003/2004 crop year - at 202,000 tonnes, a rise of 14.8 percent over the same period in the 2002/03 season.
Vietnam's coffee crop year lasts between October and September while the four-month harvest ends in late January.
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