Coffee trade in Vietnam, the world's top robusta producer, was moderate this week at the start of the new 2015/2016 season, while Indonesian traders said the recent strengthening of the rupiah had squeezed profits amid light buying. Coffee prices turned lower as dry weather concerns in top grower Brazil were viewed as overdone. ICE November robusta settled down 2.6 percent at $1,559 per tonne on Wednesday.
The contract was down 0.06 percent at $1,558 a tonne at 1024 GMT. Vietnam's robustas grade 2, 5 percent black and broken were offered at a premium of $70 a tonne to the November contract for spot shipment, from premiums of $50-$60 a week ago, while bids were at a premium of $35/tonne. Beans grade 1, similar to Sumatran coffee, stood at a premium of $120 a tonne.
"There's been some selling and buying, but ask and bid prices are still far from each other, keeping trade moderate," a trader at a foreign firm in Ho Chi Minh City said. Occasional rain is forecast in Vietnam's Central Highlands coffee belt this month while more sunny days are expected by late October, according to weather forecaster AccuWeather.com.
Sunny days help farmers dry cherries properly. The rainy season ends this month, giving way for the harvest to peak in November. Fresh cherries arriving from the early harvest showed good quality, but given a small volume, most of October shipments should be old-crop beans, traders said.
In Indonesia, Vietnam's robusta producing rival, premiums to London futures widened following lower futures prices, and that has kept buyers away, traders said. Futures and differentials often move opposite. Premiums of Sumatran robusta grade 4, 80 defects widened to $80-$100 a tonne to ICE November this week, from premiums of $60-$80 a week ago, traders said.
Indonesia's rupiah rose 0.7 percent to 13,700 per dollar on Thursday, at par with Wednesday's high, before turning lower as interbank speculators booked profits from its recent gain. The currency jumped 6.1 percent in the first three days of the week. "It's really affecting some people like me," an Indonesian trader said. "Some people can accept the loss, but others like me have to adjust. We're losing money, basically." Given the rupiah strengthening, local suppliers were more willing to sell to trading firms as they kept a flat price in rupiah and hence received more dollars, while traders said their profits have shrunk.