Coffee prices in Vietnam, the world's top producer of robusta, rose more than 3 percent from late last week to 45,500 dong ($2.17) per kg on Monday, the highest since September 2011 and almost on a par with London's futures prices, traders said. Higher prices in Vietnam, producer of 15 percent of global coffee output, could push up the London robusta futures market, which has been advancing steadily since Tuesday.
That market closed higher on Friday, with the May contract rising 1.3 percent to end at $2,181 a tonne, the highest for the second position in five months on adverse weather news in Vietnam. Robusta beans have climbed more than 3 percent from last Friday as exporters were buying for loading while farmers were selling slowly, betting on more gains on expectations a drought could cut output in their next 2013/2014 crop, traders said.
The beans fetched 44,500 to 46,600 dong per kg in Daklak, the country's largest coffee growing province, in the week that ended September 23, 2011, Reuters data shows. He estimated Vietnamese farmers were still holding about 40 percent of their harvest, which ended in late December with yields of 24 million to 26 million 60-kg bags. Exporters could find it difficult to secure beans now, given the high price in comparison with London's May contract, a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said.