Asia Coffee-Vietnam market tepid ahead of new crop season, low supplies in Indonesia

Farmers in the Central Highlands, Vietnam’s largest coffee-growing area, sold beans COFVN-DAKat VND46,900-47,200 ($1.98-$1.99) per kilograms, down from last week’s VND47,000-48,200 range.

“Trade is muted now as everyone is waiting for new beans,” said an exporter based in Ho Chi Minh City.

“We are assessing the current situation ahead of the harvest amid stronger dollar, raising freight rates, higher production costs.

Traders in Vietnam offered 5% black and broken-grade 2 robusta COFVN-G25-SAIat a discount range of $200-$250 per tonne to the November contract.

Another trader said coffee growing area was bracing for more rains but rains at the time helped pick off weak cherries from the cherry before the harvest.

November robusta futures on ICELRCc2 settled down $10, or 0.4%, at $2,226 per tonne on Wednesday.

In Indonesia’s Lampung province, discounts for Sumatran robusta beans were unchanged this week, local traders said.

One trader offered $140 discount to the November contract, while another offered $50-$60 discount to the October and November contracts.

“Volume of beans has started to come down as harvest has ended, while local buyers are still trying to buy more beans,” one of the traders said.