By Mas Alina Arifin
Dec 23 (Reuters) – Vietnam’s coffee supply was steady as the weather supported harvesting amid lean trading, while Indonesian markets were subdued due to low stocks and the holiday period, traders said on Thursday.
Vietnamese farmers have been ramping up their harvest of coffee beans in the Central Highlands, Vietnam’s largest coffee-growing area, to take advantage of supportive weather, according to traders.
“Farmers have harvested 80% of this year’s crop and are speeding up drying of beans as it’s sunny now,” a trader in the coffee belt province of Dak Lak said.
Farmers in the Central Highlands sold coffee COFVN-DAK at 40,300-42,000 dong ($1.76-$1.83) per kg, compared with last week’s 40,400-41,500 dong.
Traders in the country offered 5% black and broken grade 2 robusta COFVN-G25-SAI at discounts of $440-$430 per tonne to the March contract, compared with last week’s discount of $400.
“At this discount range, domestic prices should be around 45,000 dong per kg. However, due to the supply chain disruption, beans can’t be transferred properly and buyers can not offer higher,” the Dak Lak-based trader said.
London ICE November LRCc2 futures settled up $22, or 1%, at $2,339 per tonne on Wednesday.
For the first 11 months of 2021, Vietnam exported 1.4 million tonnes of coffee, down 2.3% from a year earlier, customs data released last week showed.
In Indonesia’s Lampung province, Sumatran robusta beans were offered at a discount of $230-$250 to the February contract, compared with last week’s $200-$220 discount range for the same contract.
Another trader offered a $250 discount to the March contract, unchanged from last week.
“The benchmark prices remain high, while there is not much bean stock anymore, so the differential remains the same,” one of the traders said.
Shipments have also slowed due to the holidays, traders added.
($1 = 22,950 dong)
(Reporting by Mas Alina Arifin in Bandar Lampung; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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