Coffee shippers in Vietnam were clearing a backlog after the Lunar New year festival in the world's largest robusta producer, while daily arrivals picked up in Indonesia during an early harvest, dealers said on Wednesday.
Vietnam's robusta beans grade 2, 5 black and broken were offered at a discount of $150 to $160 a tonne to London's May contract , steady from two weeks ago. Indonesian beans were quoted at a much smaller discount.
"There are a lot of cargoes jammed at the ports, so they are sort of trying to clear the backlog. They are giving this excuse that the shipping line is fully booked at the moment," said a dealer in Singapore, who trades Indonesian and Vietnamese beans.
"So let's see whether the situation improves two weeks from now. The crop is already fully harvested."
Dealers in Vietnam said farmers were holding back sales on hopes of further gains after domestic prices held near a record high.
Loading could fall to between 80,000 tonnes and 90,000 tonnes this month from 140,000 tonnes estimated for January, with more delays expected.
Delays from Vietnam could underpin sentiment in London robusta futures, but beans from second-largest robusta producer Indonesia were now available in small quantity.
Indonesian export-grade 4, 80 defect beans, were offered at a discount of $70 and $80 under London's May contract, hardly changed from two weeks ago.
Coffee futures weakened on Tuesday, tracking declines in other softs commodities following China's decision to raise interest rates for the second time in over a month.
"Daily arrivals are about 350 tonnes, compared with 200 tonnes last week. The thing is that we are worried there won't be many beans left when the main crop starts," said a dealer in Bandar Lampung, the provincial capital of Lampung on Sumatra island.
"But I must say, there's not much interest yet from foreign buyers. More beans have yet to come from plantations and our coffee is more expensive than Vietnamese beans."
source :
http://www.vneconomynews.com/2011/02/asia-coffee-vietnam-clears.html
