Indonesian coffee prices edged up this week on limited stocks while prices in top robusta producer Vietnam dropped in line with a weaker London contract, traders said on Thursday. London November robusta closed down $19, or 1.2 percent, at $1,557 per tonne on Wednesday. The contract dipped 3.35 percent in September.
Vietnam's robustas grade 2, 5 percent black and broken were being offered at premiums of $50-$60 a tonne to the November contract, down from $80-$100 a tonne last Thursday and $60-$80 a tonne early this week. Vietnam has begun offering robusta beans from its new harvest, but trading was thin as there was a big gap between bid and ask prices.
"We offer the new-crop beans at premiums to the January and March 2016 but importers only want to buy at discount," said Phan Hung Anh, deputy director of export firm Anh Minh. The beans to be shipped this month were mainly from the previous harvest, while fresh beans will be available for export from December. Vietnam's October exports of coffee could reach between 80,000 tonnes and 140,000 tonnes, depending on ICE robusta futures prices, compared to a government estimate made last month of exports of 90,000 tonnes, traders said on Thursday.
In Indonesia, the world's second largest robusta producer after Vietnam, the market for exporters was quiet while domestic buyers were still active, but not at high prices. Sumatran robusta grade 4, 80 defects were last offered at premiums of $1,570-$1,580 a tonne, free-on-board Lampung, on Wednesday, up from $1,550-$1,560 a week ago.
"Right now, no one has the stock and they have to cover also from the market," a Southh Sumatra robusta trader said Indonesia's bean exports are forecast to increase 4 percent to 400,000 tonnes this year, an industry ministry official said on Thursday, from 385,000 tonnes in 2014, as a result of improving production. "Indonesian prices are cheaper than Vietnam," another trader said. He said Vietnamese farmers and middlemen were holding their coffee so it would become expensive while Indonesian counterparts needed to sell their coffee quickly for cash.
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