Trade in Vietnamese coffee came to a standstill on Thursday as prices slightly recovered from multi-month lows hit earlier this week but were still far below sellers' expectations, traders said. In Indonesia, the harvest has been slower than in 2014, suggesting a smaller crop, traders said. Vietnam, the world's largest robusta producer, and Indonesia account for around a quarter of global coffee exports.
Robusta beans fell to 33,500-35,000 dong ($1.54-$1.61) per kg on Wednesday in Daklak, Vietnam's top growing province, after ICE July robusta visited $1,566 a tonne on Tuesday, the lowest for the second position since November 2013. The 33,500 dong price is the lowest in Vietnam since late-January last year, based on Reuters data. "No transactions are around, we cannot buy from here," said a trader at a foreign firm in Ho Chi Minh City. On Thursday, Daklak prices rebounded slightly to 34,300-35,600 dong per kg, but the gain has yet to prompt speculators and some farmers to sell, traders said. The gains in Vietnam tracked the ICE July contract, which ended up 2.7 percent at $1,618 a tonne on Wednesday on profit-taking and trade buying.
Most exporters did not make offers to sell on Thursday, while an indicative price put Vietnamese robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken beans at a premium of $120 a tonne to the September contract. The differential widened from premiums of $60-$70 a tonne on Tuesday and $50-$60 last Thursday.