Trading in Vietnamese robusta coffee was dull this week as farmers held back on thinning stocks while buyers waited for fresh beans to arrive in bulk next month, traders said on Tuesday. Harvesting of the 2014/2015 season will peak from mid-November while the country's stock of beans from the previous crop has thinned after October shipments are expected to be slightly above market expectations.
"Buyers are not rushing now, waiting for more beans to come in and for Vietnamese exporters to sell more," a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said. Exporters sought to buy robusta from farmers at 39,400 dong ($1.85) per kg on Tuesday in Daklak, Vietnam's top growing province, down from 39,600 dong a week ago.
"But if they want to get the beans, the price has to be 40,000 dong per kg," said a dealer in Daklak, adding that farmers wanted to sell on par with a peak hit early this month. Prices rose to a more-than-16-month high of 42,200-42,400 dong per kg in early October, the first month of the new 2014/2015 crop year. Prices in Vietnam track the ICE robusta market, where the January contract ended down 0.5 percent at $2,017/tonne on Monday, in line with arabica declines on the weaker real and forecasts for rain in Brazil.
Discounts of Vietnamese robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken were offered at $85 a tonne to the January contract for loading in November/December, according to Ho Chi Minh City-based Asia Commodities Co. The beans were also quoted at discounts of $75-$80 a tonne, from $80-$90 last week, while buyers bid at around $100 a tonne below the futures price. Output from the 2014/2015 crop could be on par with the previous 2013/2014 season, which produced more than 1.7 million tonnes (28.3 million 60-kg bags), a record high, traders said. Their estimates are above an industry forecast. The 2014/2015 crop output could fall 10 percent from the previous year to 25 million bags, said Do Ha Nam, a deputy chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), in late September.
Comments
Comments are closed.