Coffee prices in Vietnam, the world’s largest Robusta coffee producer, sloped down nearly 8 per cent to VND20,300 per kilo on September 19 from VND22,300 on the previous day and VND22,000 a week ago.
The falling prices, the biggest drop in almost 14 months, are mostly attributed to sharp declines in London, caused by expectations of a big crop from Vietnam thanks to favorable weather.
Enterprises based in central highlands Dak Lak province, Vietnam’s top coffee-growing area, have stopped offering beans for exports due to low stocks at the end of the season and volatility in world coffee prices.
Coffee output from the upcoming harvest that is to start in late October, and which often ends in January, is predicted to rise by one third over the previous drought-stricken harvest, even though rain and insects threaten to cut back output in some areas.
The rainy season usually ends in the first half of next month, giving way for the start of the new harvest and state forecasters said they have seen no sign that the rains would end later than usual, improving prospects for the next lucrative coffee harvest in Vietnam.
At present, some farms in Vietnam’s key coffee growing areas have been hit by insects but the impact is still limited now because the affected area is tiny compared with the 450,000 hectares of coffee planted in the Central Highlands, which produces 80 per cent of Vietnam's coffee.
On September 18, the International Coffee Organization forecast that Vietnam’s coffee output would rise 31.8 per cent from the season ending this month to 14.5 million 60-kg bags.
The forecast is lower than the estimates by Vietnam-based traders who believe the country's output could top 900,000 tons, or 15 million bags but it is higher than a projection at 13.85 million bags by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Pioneer
Vietnamese
