Vietnam coffee prices flat

Coffee prices in Vietnam were flat on Tuesday, with gains from London robusta offset by fresh beans coming onto the market after more than half of the country's bumper crop had been harvested, traders said.
They said sales of Vietnamese robusta coffee curbed London's price gains, even as New York arabica futures hit a 10-month high. "Many exporters sold coffee and now is their time to deliver the beans," said a state trader based in Daklak, Vietnam's key coffee growing province.
Vietnam is the world's top robusta producer. Sales from Vietnam has been rising as shown by the number of actual shipments and the inking of new deals, dealers said. "It is difficult to sell slowly now as exporters are under pressure to repay bank loans so they cannot keep beans longer in stock," the Daklak trader said, added that loading commitments would be completed late this month and in January.
Vietnam may have now harvested more than 8 million coffee bags, based on traders' estimates of the crop output of 16 million bags, a significant rise from the 12 million bags in the previous drought-stricken harvest that ended in January.
One bag contains 60 kg of beans. "Most of the fresh beans are now being dried or kept in farmer's stock while prices are good," the Daklak trader said.
In Daklak markets on Tuesday, a kg of robusta beans were unchanged from Monday at 20,800-20,900 dong ($1.29-$1.30), up from 20,700-20,800 dong last week but still below 24,000 dong per kg a month ago, the highest since February 1999. The rise so far this week came after London's robusta March closed $15 a tonne up at $1,481 on Monday on speculative buying.
"Discounts are quoted at $100-$105 a tonne below March and Vietnam is selling at these prices," another trader said. Quotations for Vietnamese robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken firmed to $1,340-$1,365 a tonne on Tuesday, free on board, from $1,330-$1,340 last week.
Vietnam's export prices often closely track London prices. In the next few days, prices would also closely depend on where Typhoon Utter now in the South China Sea would land.
International forecasters said Utor could hit Vietnam's central coast, which would bring rains to the Central Highlands coffee belt, thus disrupting the harvest and causing delays in coffee deliveries to Saigon Port. But Vietnamese forecasters said the typhoon could turn north to run along Vietnam's coast and toward China's Hanna Island this weekend.
Vietnam's coffee harvest is expected to end in the first half of January. In another development, Daklak's provincial authorities have approved the construction of Buon Ma Thou Coffee Exchange Center to provide storage and domestic trading facilities. Traders expect this will improve the export quality of Vietnamese coffee.