Coffee prices in Vietnam, the world's largest producer of robusta beans, eased in the past week as farmers released fresh stocks from the new harvest to cash in on high prices, traders said on Tuesday.
They said more than half of Vietnam's coffee crop has been picked with good weather in the Central Highlands key growing area and the harvest should be completed in a week.
"The harvest has been very smooth and supply is abundant now," a trader in Daklak, the country's top coffee-growing province said. Domestic prices, which surged 77.8 percent from a year ago to 24,000 dong ($1.49) per kg in November, the highest since February 1999, edged down after fresh beans hit the market.
"Farmers have been releasing the new beans to take advantage of the high prices," another trader in Daklak said. On Tuesday, one kg of Vietnamese robusta eased to 20,500-21,000 dong ($1.28-$1.31), from 20,800-21,000 dong last week and 22,800-23,450 dong about two weeks ago.
Exporters also lowered quotations for Vietnamese robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken beans to $1,335-$1,349 per tonne, on a free-on-board basis on Tuesday, versus $1,340-$1,355 per tonne a week ago. Discounts to London's January stood at $100 a tonne. Daklak's output was expected to increase 28.4 percent from the previous crop to 5.5 million bags, provincial officials have said.
The province turns out a third of Vietnam's coffee. Vietnam's coffee output was projected to rise to between 13.5 million and 14.5 million bags under this harvest, from 11.5 million bags in the previous season, Vietnamese industry officials said.
One bag contains 60 kg of coffee beans. But foreign traders disputed the industry forecast, saying such an underestimate was given to push prices up.
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