Vietnam's 2010/2011 coffee crop harvest produced 403,600 tonnes in the country's largest growing province of Daklak, up around 6 percent from a year earlier, a state-run newspaper reported on Friday.
The output, following an International Coffee Organization's upward revision of Vietnam's crop output , could help partially meet increasing demand by roasters who sought to buy the cheaper variety after a surge in arabica prices.
Daklak has 177,000 hectares (437,000 acres) of coffee under production, with an average yield of 2.28 tonne per hectare, the official Vietnam News Agency-run Tin Tuc (News) daily said, citing provincial agricultural department data.
The output estimate confirmed a forecast in September 2010, when Deputy Director Nguyen Van Sinh at the department told Reuters that output from the crop would rise to 400,000 tonnes.
Daklak, with a total of 182,400 hectares of coffee under plantation, produces around one third of the output from Vietnam, the world's second-largest producer after Brazil. The country's output makes up 13 percent of global coffee output.
Daklak's harvest, hit by rains last November , ended late last month, or two weeks earlier than usual as farmers tried to cut costs and protect cherries from thieves due to high prices.
Global prices surged 57 percent last year, while robusta prices in Vietnam jumped 56.5 percent.
The news report confirmed adverse weather had affected Daklak's coffee production, but the higher output was reached as more trees have became productive, from 175,000 hectares in the previous 2009/2010 crop.
Vietnam's coffee crop year lasts between October and September.
Farmers in Daklak and in four other provinces which form the Central Highlands coffee belt are due to feed trees with fertiliser and water them from next month until early May when the rainy season returns under the 2011/2012 production cycle.
Coffee trading in Vietnam is likely to remain lacklustre until a holiday next month, as slow sales by farmers and bank credit limits stop exporters buying, traders said on Tuesday.
source: http://www.vnbusinessreg.com/vietnam-coffee-output-6-pct-main-area-report/
