Vietnam, the world's top robusta exporter, has estimated its October 2003-July 2004 coffee export rose 42 percent to 832,000 tonnes (13.9 million 60-kg bags), the government said.
Vietnam shipped 585,000 tonnes of the soft commodity in the same period of the 2002/2003-crop year, which runs, between October and September, with a four-month harvest ending in January.
In a report, the government's General Statistics Office revised up the coffee exports in June to 90,000 tonnes, from 70,000 tonnes previously estimated. It put shipment in July at 70,000 tonnes, bringing Vietnam's coffee export in the January-July period to 630,000 tonnes, from 409,000 tonnes shipped in the same period in 2003.
Given the exported volume, Vietnam would still have around 200,000 tonnes of beans left in the country before harvesting of the 2004/2005 crop starts in mid-October.
Last month a Reuters survey of 5 traders at foreign firms showed the 2003/2004 crop produced an average 827,500 tonnes while the stock carried over from the previous crop was estimated at more than 100,000 tonnes.
Local consumption has been stable at 40,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonnes in recent years. The Reuters survey last month showed output of the upcoming 2004/2005 crop would rise 14.4 percent from the previous crop to 947,000 tonnes.
The average is based on forecasts ranging from 807,500 tonnes to around 1 million tonnes.