Coffee markets stay muted in Vietnam, Indonesia on low supply

Asian coffee markets remained subdued this week due to low supplies at the end the crop season in Vietnam

A coffee seller displays coffee beans for sale at a coffee shop in Hanoi August 14, 2013. REUTERS/Kham

Asian coffee markets remained subdued this week due to low supplies at the end the crop season in Vietnam and the harvest period in Indonesia, traders said on Thursday.

In line with a drop in London prices, domestic coffee prices in Vietnam's Daklak province fell to 42,000-43,000 dong ($1.85-$1.89) per kg from 44,000-44,500 dong last week, discouraging farmers to sell beans, traders said.

London ICE January futures fell 2.23 percent on Wednesday to $1,931 a tonne, in their sharpest fall in three weeks.

Exporters in Vietnam hardly clinched any deal as they offered the 5 percent black and broken grade 2 robusta on par with the January contract, while importers sought a discount of $30-$40 amid low demand.

Meanwhile, local farmers also refused to lower their prices amid a thin stockpile at the end of the 2016/2017 crop season after unfavourable weather at end-2016 hurt output.

Vietnam's coffee exports volume in the 2016/2017 crop year as of August was 1.4 billion tonnes, down 13 percent from the same period last year, but exports value during the same period rose 9 percent to $3.16 billion as prices were higher this year, customs data showed.

The coffee crop season in Vietnam starts in October and ends in September of the following year.

In Indonesia, prices of the grade 4 defect 80 robusta beans in the province of Lampung stood at a premium of $10 to the November contract, unchanged from last week.

A trader in Lampung, Indonesia's main coffee growing area, said trade remained light as sellers ran out of beans.