Trading in Vietnamese coffee has slowed on Tuesday after robusta futures prices hit a fresh low, while ample supply is expected to help loading of beans until a major festival next month, traders said. Vietnam, the world's largest robusta producer, has ended harvesting a bumper coffee crop, with output seen rising according to the London-based International Coffee Organisation.
The 2015/2016 crop output is estimated at 27.5 million 60-kg bags, up 3.8 percent from the previous season, the ICO said in its December 2015 report. The crop year lasts between October and September. "The market is slow and would continue at this pace until Tet as prices are down," a trader at a foreign firm in Ho Chi Minh City said, referring to the Lunar New Year festival, Vietnam's biggest in a year, that falls on February 7-14.
Robusta beans fell to 31.2-31.8 million dong ($1,410-$1,420) per tonne on Tuesday in the Central Highlands coffee belt, from 32.2-32.5 million dong last week. At 31.2 million dong, the price is the lowest since the week ended November 28, 2013. Coffee prices in Vietnam track global robusta futures market, which slumped to a 5-1/2-year low on Monday as already ample supplies were boosted by Vietnam's strong exports. March robusta ended 1.5 percent lower at $1,420 a tonne. December coffee exports jumped 58.6 percent from the previous month to 152,000 tonnes, customs data showed on Monday.
The shipment is the highest monthly volume since April 2014, based on Reuters data. Exporters sought to sell robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken at premiums of $30-$50 a tonne to ICE May contract, widening from premiums of $25-$30/tonne last week.