Asia coffee: price fall curbs Vietnam trade; Indonesian supply limited

Lower global coffee prices pushed Vietnamese export quotations to below domestic prices on Thursday, curbing trading while supply has been ample as farmers will soon wrap up the harvest, traders said.
The harvest in Vietnam, the world's top robusta producer, is 70-80 percent complete and will end late this month, with output easing 1.7 percent from the previous season to 29.33 million 60-kg bags, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Harvesting of a minor crop in Indonesia, Vietnam's robusta rival producer, has begun, but a small volume of beans means trading has yet to pick up, traders said. Vietnam and Indonesia produce a quarter of global output.
On Wednesday arabica coffee tumbled more than 3 percent to its lowest in nearly five months after Volcafe said top grower Brazil's coffee output in 2015 will rise 5 percent from this year to 49.5 million 60-kg bags.
March robusta contract eased 0.9 percent to close at $1,946 a tonne.
Discounts of Vietnamese robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken shrank to $30-$50 a tonne to the March contract, from discounts of $50-$75 a week ago.
"Export prices are low while domestic prices are higher, so exporters are not into selling anew," said Phan Hung Anh, deputy director of Anh Minh Co, a major private coffee export firm based in Daklak, Vietnam's top growing province.
Domestic prices stood at 40.8 million dong ($1,909) per tonne in Ho Chi Minh City, above the export price of $1,860/tonne on free-on-board basis, Anh said.
"It's been difficult to buy coffee now as farmers are selling slowly," a Vietnamese trader said. Prices are now about 13 percent higher than a year ago.
Higher-quality grade 1, screen 16 beans, equivalent to Sumatran beans, were quoted at par to a premium of $30 a tonne to the March contract.
Between 150 and 300 tonnes of fresh cherries were arriving from Indonesia's minor crop, known as the fly crop, but exporters have yet to offer spot shipments, traders said.
Sumatran robusta grade 4, 80 defects were quoted at a premium of $40 a tonne for loading in April/May 2015, while the beans were quoted at par to a discount of $20 a tonne, FOB Lampung before the global markets fell late on Wednesday.