BANDAR LAMPUNG: Fresh coffee beans from Vietnam’s 2021/22 harvest are yet to arrive as rains in key growing areas and cherry picker shortage have disrupted bean processing, while discounts stayed unchanged in Indonesia, traders said on Thursday.

Farmers in the Central Highlands, Vietnam’s largest coffee-growing area, sold coffee at 40,200-42,000 dong($1.77-$1.85), compared with last week’s 39,900-42,000 dong range.

“Farmers have started to pick cherry but light rains in recent days have hindered the process,” said a trader based in the coffee belt.

“It’s still too early to tell if rains over the past month had harmed coffee beans but if it continues to rain in December, the quality will be hurt.”

Another traders based in the same area said demands for new beans were still high, but foreign exporters remained cautious due to supply tightness, container crunch and uncertain COVID-19 situation.

Traders in Vietnam offered 5% black and broken grade 2 robusta at a discount of $300 per tonne to the March contract. The discount range was $280-$300 per tonne to the January contract last week.