Healthy demand supported coffee markets in Indonesia, while a tropical storm sweeping through Vietnam caused no harm to coffee plants, traders said on Thursday. Indonesia's grade 4 defect 80 robusta was traded at a $70-$120 premium to London's September futures contract, same as last week, traders said.
Trade has started to pick up on solid demand after several dull weeks following the long Eid holidays and regional elections, but prices were capped by supply from a harvest, traders said. Harvest is ongoing in the southern part of Indonesia's main coffee growing island of Sumatra, but supply was lower than expected. Whatever amount being sold were quickly absorbed by buyers, traders said.
In Vietnam, falling global prices and low stock at the end of the crop season kept the market subdued, with farmers reluctant to release beans, in hopes that tightening supply may eventually support prices, traders said Farmers in the Central Highlands, Vietnam's main coffee growing region, offered beans at 34,300-35,200 dong ($1.49-$1.53) per kilogram, lower than 34,500-37,000 dong a week earlier, traders said. Vietnam's 5 percent black and broken grade 2 robusta traded at a $90-$100 per tonne discount to the London September robusta coffee contract, compared with a $80-$100 discount a week earlier, traders said.