Vietnam Coffee-April loading rises, discounts widen

HANOI, April 26, 2011 - Vietnam's April coffee exports jumped an estimated 30.3 percent from the same month in 2010 to 155,000 tonnes, or 2.58 million bags, exceeding market expectations, the agriculture ministry said.

Rising exports from Vietnam could put a cap on London robusta futures prices, which have been gaining in recent months in line with the advance of arabica prices and an expected production shortfall in rival robusta producer Indonesia.

The estimated shipment this month brought coffee exports in the period between January and April to 11.25 million 60-kg bags, up 45.4 percent from the corresponding period a year ago, the ministry said in a report compiled on Monday.

Earlier this month traders forecast April loading to drop below 100,000 tonnes and as low as 75,000 tonnes, from March's shipment of 150,000 tonnes estimated by the government's General Statistics Office.

The agriculture ministry's report said actual March coffee loading reached 160,600 tonnes.

Vietnam has exported 965,000 tonnes, or 16.08 million bags of coffee between October 2010 and this month, up 30.4 percent from a year ago, based on the figures from the agriculture ministry and government statistics.

The country's coffee crop year last between October and September, starting with the harvest that peaks in December and ends in early January.
 

Traditionally the harvest started in late October and peaked in November, but unseasonal rains as an impact of La Nina disrupted the cycle last yea and delayed the harvest, while the process ended in late December because of rising labour costs.

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The export volume, accounting for around 80 percent of the latest harvest, suggested the stock left in Vietnam would be at 3.34 million bags, given the latest 2010/2011 crop produced around 20 million bags as estimated by CoffeeNetwork. 

The International Coffee Organization estimated Vietnam's coffee consumption at 1.58 million bags, while 1 million bags had been carried from the previous 2009/2010 crop.
 

Robusta stood at between 47,700 dong and 47,800 dong ($2.28-$2.29) per kg in Daklak, Vietnam's largest growing province, unchanged from Monday but up from 47,400-47,800 dong a week ago.
 

The coffee market in Vietnam remained quiet on Tuesday as the London robusta futures market was closed on Monday for a public holiday and reopens later on Tuesday, traders said.
 

Discounts to the London July contract widened to $75-$80 a tonne this week from $60-$70 a week ago, putting Vietnamese robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken at $2,355-$2,365 a tonne, free-on-board basis, unchanged from last Tuesday.
 

Vietnam, the world's second-largest coffee producer after Brazil, planned to cut its total coffee acreage by 13.5 percent to 480,000 hectares (1.19 million acres) while keeping output stable at 1.1 million tonnes by 2020, state-run media reported.
($1=20,900 dong)
Source : Reuters