Discounts for Vietnamese coffee have tightened in thin trade with few good quality beans available and farmers holding onto their stocks on expectations prices would rise in the coming days, traders said on Thursday. Vietnam's 5 percent black and broken grade 2 robusta variety was trading at a discount of $35 to the ICE November contract, compared with $50-$90 last week. Almost no trade was done as farmers held back beans, traders said.
Prices in Vietnam fell to 43,000 dong-44,900 dong ($1.89-1.98) per kg from 45,500 dong-46,100 dong a week earlier, traders said, in line with a fall in the London ICE November futures contract, which closed at $2,054 a tonne on Wednesday. Traders said the coffee market in Vietnam was quiet as buying for the September contract was over and stocks declined amid a lack of quality beans.
"Traders have purchased enough to meet the deadlines for August, September and October contracts. There were new transactions, but not many," said a trader in Ho Chi Minh city. Vietnam, the world's biggest robusta producer, exported 110,000 tonnes of coffee in July, bringing exports in the first seven months to 941,000 tonnes, government data showed.
Vietnamese coffee farmers are enjoying favourable weather for the upcoming crop starting in October. Indonesia's robusta grade 4 defect 80 variety was traded at a discount of $10 to the November contract, compared with $15-$20 to the September contract last week.