Settle Change Open High Low Volume
Mei1 2237 +32 2325 2358 2316 11853 Robusta
Mei1 273.00 +5.85 269.15 275.9 267.5 9202 Arabika
Mei1 2263 +31 3422 3511 3422 8441 Cocoa LDN
Mei1 3499 +51 2235 2279 2224 6666 Cocoa NY
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Vietnam Coffee stock low, next crop at risk - VICOEA
By Ho Binh Minh
HANOI, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Vietnamese farmers are holding low stocks of coffee now while adverse weather could affect production of their next 2011/2012 crop, a senior industry official said on Monday.
But robusta export from the world's top producer of the variety now being increasingly bought due to a surge in arabica prices, would not fall even though some foreign firms were found to be making illegal purchase in Vietnam, said Luong Van Tu, Chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa).
Initial reports from the Central Highlands coffee belt said some cherries did not contain solid beans inside, suggesting the 2011/2012 crop may not get good output, he said in the first remark of the next crop.
"The recent slow loading pace is due to a lower-than-forecast volume of coffee now held by farmers," Tu said, adding that slow sales by Vietnamese farmers who can get mortgage-free loans from the government also contributed to slower exports.
Loading could ease to between 80,000 and 90,000 tonnes this month from January's 140,000 tonnes as more delays due to high domestic prices emerge, traders have said. Domestic coffee prices in Vietnam have so far this year risen more than 9 percent from the end of 2010 to around $1,940 a tonne, on top of an annual surge last year of 56 percent.
Tu said he has not had any final output number for the 2010/2011 harvest that ended in late December, as the association was still comparing crop data from its member companies.
The association said in December 2010 that the output may drop 10 percent from 17.5 million bags estimated earlier due to problems with smaller beans.
But in contrast, the January report of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) said Vietnam's 2010/2011 coffee output has risen 1.3 percent from the previous crop to 18.43 million bags.
The London-based ICO releases global coffee export data from contributions by members, while the output data come from other sources, Tu said.
Vietnam's coffee crop year lasts between October and September, starting with a harvest that peaks in late November or early December.
LOCAL BUYING NETWORKS
Some foreign companies which have been exporting coffee from Vietnam have been found to be organising their local buying network in the country, something not allowed by the law, Tu said, citing reports from Vietnamese exporters.
The association has advised businesses and provincial authorities that foreign firms have the right to buy and export Vietnamese coffee but that the right excludes "organising networks to buy goods in Vietnam for export", it said in a statement on Monday.
The coffee export volume from Vietnam will not drop after this move because most foreign companies have been buying coffee mainly via Vietnamese exporters, Tu said.
The latest findings may prompt provincial authorities or the trade ministry to punish any violators by suspending the operation of their representative office in Vietnam.
Source: (Editing by Ramthan Hussain) ((ho.minh@thomsonreuters.com; +844 3825 9623; Reuters Messaging: ho.minh.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))
HANOI, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Vietnamese farmers are holding low stocks of coffee now while adverse weather could affect production of their next 2011/2012 crop, a senior industry official said on Monday.
But robusta export from the world's top producer of the variety now being increasingly bought due to a surge in arabica prices, would not fall even though some foreign firms were found to be making illegal purchase in Vietnam, said Luong Van Tu, Chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa).
Initial reports from the Central Highlands coffee belt said some cherries did not contain solid beans inside, suggesting the 2011/2012 crop may not get good output, he said in the first remark of the next crop.
"The recent slow loading pace is due to a lower-than-forecast volume of coffee now held by farmers," Tu said, adding that slow sales by Vietnamese farmers who can get mortgage-free loans from the government also contributed to slower exports.
Loading could ease to between 80,000 and 90,000 tonnes this month from January's 140,000 tonnes as more delays due to high domestic prices emerge, traders have said. Domestic coffee prices in Vietnam have so far this year risen more than 9 percent from the end of 2010 to around $1,940 a tonne, on top of an annual surge last year of 56 percent.
Tu said he has not had any final output number for the 2010/2011 harvest that ended in late December, as the association was still comparing crop data from its member companies.
The association said in December 2010 that the output may drop 10 percent from 17.5 million bags estimated earlier due to problems with smaller beans.
But in contrast, the January report of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) said Vietnam's 2010/2011 coffee output has risen 1.3 percent from the previous crop to 18.43 million bags.
The London-based ICO releases global coffee export data from contributions by members, while the output data come from other sources, Tu said.
Vietnam's coffee crop year lasts between October and September, starting with a harvest that peaks in late November or early December.
LOCAL BUYING NETWORKS
Some foreign companies which have been exporting coffee from Vietnam have been found to be organising their local buying network in the country, something not allowed by the law, Tu said, citing reports from Vietnamese exporters.
The association has advised businesses and provincial authorities that foreign firms have the right to buy and export Vietnamese coffee but that the right excludes "organising networks to buy goods in Vietnam for export", it said in a statement on Monday.
The coffee export volume from Vietnam will not drop after this move because most foreign companies have been buying coffee mainly via Vietnamese exporters, Tu said.
The latest findings may prompt provincial authorities or the trade ministry to punish any violators by suspending the operation of their representative office in Vietnam.
Source: (Editing by Ramthan Hussain) ((ho.minh@thomsonreuters.com; +844 3825 9623; Reuters Messaging: ho.minh.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))
Market Review :US Arabica coffee $ cocoa hit new high
NEW YORK, Feb 18 (Reuters) - U.S. arabica coffee futures hit their highest level in nearly 14 years on Friday, as high quality beans remained in short supply, while cocoa cracked a one-year peak and raw sugar fell further away from a 30-year high.
* Cocoa futures for March rose $11 to $3,493 a tonne in volume of 12 lots, trading in a range of $3,468 to $3,506. May rose $26 to $3,464 a tonne.
* Arabica coffee futures for March fell 0.30 cent to $2.6705 a lb in volume of 177 lots, trading in a range of $2.6670 to $2.6840. May fell 0.65 cent to $2.6820 a lb.
MARKET NEWS
* Arabica coffee futures climbed to their highest level in nearly 14 years on Friday, and robusta coffee hit a new 2-1/2-year peak as roasters were forced to pay up as high quality beans remained in short supply. [SOF/L]
* ICE cocoa futures pierced a new one-year barrier on fears a possible nationalization of Ivory Coast banks could further strangle the cocoa trade in the top producer.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Coffee exports from Central America, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic rose 28.7 percent year-on-year in January, the fourth straight month of increases from the group of washed arabica producers.
* Colombian truckers agreed to halt a two-week strike on Friday after raching a deal with the government in the world's No. 3 coffee exporter, the country's vice president said, after predictions the strike could hit coffee prices if it lasted more than three weeks. [ID:nN18205244]
* Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo decreed on Thursday that major banks suspending business in Ivory Coast are to be nationalised, the latest turn in a bitter struggle for political control of the West African state.
* The Ivory Coast units of Societe Generale and BNP Paribas will be opened on Monday as nationalised banks, the government of incumbent leader Laurent Gbabo said on Friday.
* Pan-African bank Ecobank has suspended its operations in Ivory Coast, a company official said on Friday. * Cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast reached a total of 953,601 tonnes by Feb. 13, up 14 percent from the same period last year, according to data from the Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) obtained by Reuters on
ECONOMIC DATA
* Germany's Federal Statistics office reported its January Producer Price Index rose 1.2 percent from December and 5.7 percent year to year, the strongest YTY increase in since October 2008. PPI ex-energy rose 0.6 percent in Jan.
OUTSIDE MARKETS
* World shares fell back from fresh 30-month highs against a background of rising oil prices and a new attempt overnight by China to curb inflation pressures by raising reserves that lenders are required to hold by another 50 basis points.
* The euro slipped broadly on the view that euro zone debt problems will persist and as uncertainty about the cause of a spike in emergency borrowing from the European Central Bank added to market jitters.
* Oil prices moved lower after China increased lenders' reserve rates, although worries about tensions in the Middle East and North Africa lent support.
* Gold hit five-week highs in Europe and silver rose to its loftiest since 1980 as the Middle East unrest bolstered safe-haven interest in precious metals, though the tightening of lender reserves by China curbed gains.
Source:
(Reporting by Chris Kelly; Editing by John Picinich) ((chris.kelly@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 6042; Reuters Messaging: chris.kelly.reuters.com@reuters.net))
* Cocoa futures for March
* Arabica coffee futures for March
MARKET NEWS
* Arabica coffee futures
* ICE cocoa futures pierced a new one-year barrier on fears a possible nationalization of Ivory Coast banks could further strangle the cocoa trade in the top producer.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Coffee exports from Central America, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic rose 28.7 percent year-on-year in January, the fourth straight month of increases from the group of washed arabica producers.
* Colombian truckers agreed to halt a two-week strike on Friday after raching a deal with the government in the world's No. 3 coffee exporter, the country's vice president said, after predictions the strike could hit coffee prices if it lasted more than three weeks. [ID:nN18205244]
* Ivory Coast's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo decreed on Thursday that major banks suspending business in Ivory Coast are to be nationalised, the latest turn in a bitter struggle for political control of the West African state.
* The Ivory Coast units of Societe Generale
* Pan-African bank Ecobank
ECONOMIC DATA
* Germany's Federal Statistics office reported its January Producer Price Index rose 1.2 percent from December and 5.7 percent year to year, the strongest YTY increase in since October 2008. PPI ex-energy rose 0.6 percent in Jan.
OUTSIDE MARKETS
* World shares fell back from fresh 30-month highs against a background of rising oil prices and a new attempt overnight by China to curb inflation pressures by raising reserves that lenders are required to hold by another 50 basis points.
* The euro slipped broadly on the view that euro zone debt problems will persist and as uncertainty about the cause of a spike in emergency borrowing from the European Central Bank added to market jitters.
* Oil prices moved lower after China increased lenders' reserve rates, although worries about tensions in the Middle East and North Africa lent support.
* Gold hit five-week highs in Europe and silver rose to its loftiest since 1980 as the Middle East unrest bolstered safe-haven interest in precious metals, though the tightening of lender reserves by China curbed gains.
Source:
(Reporting by Chris Kelly; Editing by John Picinich) ((chris.kelly@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 6042; Reuters Messaging: chris.kelly.reuters.com@reuters.net))
Ivory Coast has 300,000 T of cocoa stuck on farm
ABIDJAN, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's cocoa regulator estimated on Thursday it still had 300,000 tonnes of cocoa left to come out of farms in the 2010/11 season, that can go nowhere while EU and United States sanctions are preventing shipping.
"This is what is worrying us," Gilbert Anoh, president of the Coffee and Cocoa Management ommittee, which is under EU and U.S. sanctions for supporting incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo in his bid to stay in power despite losing a poll to his rival.
"The maritime embargo is preventing exporters from operating." The figure includes the mid-crop from April-September, he said.
Source: (Editing by Keiron Henderson) ((tim.cocks@thomsonreuters.com; Abidjan Newsroom +225 07074101)) (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/)
Vietnam coffee sales slow as prices hit all-time highs
* Vietnam coffee soars 87 pct y/y to all-time highs
* Discounts widen slightly
* No rush for sales - Daklak coffee grower
* 2011/2012 global deficit seen at 4 mln bags
HANOI, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Vietnamese robusta coffee on the domestic market jumped to as high as 42.2 million dong ($2,021) a tonne on Wednesday, breaking earlier records and prompting more growers to hold on to stocks.
The slowing sales in Vietnam, the world's second-largest producer after Brazil, has helped push London robusta futures market prices through a 2-1/2-year barrier on Tuesday.
Prices in Vietnam reached all-time peaks of between 41.8 million and 42.2 million dong <VND=VN> per tonne in the key growing province of Daklak, an 87 percent surge from a year ago and up from 41.3 million dong on Tuesday, when farmers already curbed sales.
Given the rise in London, discounts of Vietnamese robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken beans to Liffe May contract <LRCK1> widened to $150-$160 a tonne on Wednesday, from $145-$150 on Tuesday.
"Farmers keep holding on to their beans as long as prices rise. The higher the price, the tighter the hold," a trader in Ho Chi Minh City said.
"They could start selling only when prices reverse the uptrend."
Rising prices not only encourage farmers in the Central Highlands coffee belt to hang on to their stocks, but also mean that they can sell fewer beans and still have sufficient cash for expenses, traders said.
"We are determined to keep coffee because prices are forecast to rise more due to a global deficit," a coffee farmer in Daklak told Reuters by telephone.
Farmers' moves to curb sales despite a harvest of 18.43 million bags -- twice the volume of robusta that rival Indonesia could pick based on ICO data -- are making global markets more nervy, amid strengthening demand by roasters and funds for robusta and rising prices of the beans since late 2010.
In Indonesia, the discount for Sumatra's robusta bean held firm this week, as the main harvest -- which will start in March-April -- has not peaked yet and exporters are still on the sidelines.
Indonesia's grade 4 80 defect is offered at a discount of $50 to London's May contract, up from $70 last week. Local prices of Sumatra beans grade 4 80 defect were at 18,500-19,000 on Wednesday, up from around 18,150 rupiah per kg last week. [COFFEE/ASIA1]
"Exporters are still waiting for more beans to flow in before they offer contracts from the new crop. They are a bit cautious after last year's crop was not so good because of the weather," said a trader in Bandar Lampung on Sumatra island.
"So any beans that are flowing now are taken by local roasters. Exporters only buy enough to cover existing contracts."
GLOBAL DEFICIT
The global coffee balance is projected to be in deficit in 2011/12 with a crop of around 131 million 60-kg bags and consumption of 135 million, coffee information firm CoffeeNetwork said last Friday.
Daklak's data showed it produced 403,000 tonnes, or 6.72 million bags, of coffee in the harvest that ended in late December, up about 6 percent from the previous crop and which made up a third of Vietnam's total output [ID:nHAN187315].
The Daklak-based farmer said he picked nearly 4 tonnes of coffee from his farm, and was now firmly holding on a stock of 3 tonnes after having repaid part of the harvest to the coffee company which leases the land to him.
"I am not selling yet, and we do not really have to sell the fresh beans while we still have enough cash for the next production," he said.
The farmer was referring to the process between now and early May when growers need to water coffee trees in three or four phases, each lasting about 20 days, and to feed them with fertiliser. The next harvest is due from late October.
Vietnam's onshore prices as of Wednesday have risen about 13 percent so far this year, after jumping 56 percent in 2010.
In the past farmers had to sell coffee at this time of year to get cash for fuel and fertiliser. But a higher price so far in the current 2010/2011 crop year has helped them avoid selling much, making it difficult for exporters to fill their loading needs, traders said.
The coffee crop year in Vietnam, the world's second-largest producer after Brazil, lasts between October and September, starting with a four-month harvest.
Previously prices in Vietnam recovered to 41 million dong per tonne in March 2008, from the historical low of 3 million dong in early-October 2001 when world prices plunged to life-time lows due to bumper crops in major producers such as Brazil and Vietnam. ($1=20,880 dong) (Additional reporting by Fitri Wulandari in JAKARTA; Editing by Ramthan Hussain)
((ho.minh@thomsonreuters.com; +844 3825 9623; Reuters Messaging: ho.minh.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com))
Ghana cocoa purchases up, Ivorian smuggling minimal
* Ghana cocoa purchases 41.4 pct up on the year
* Regulator says no impact of Ivorian smuggling
ACCRA, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Ghana's declared cocoa purchases are up 41.4 percent on the same period last season, sources said, but the country's industry regulator said the tally was not being boosted by smuggling from Ivory Coast.
Purchases by private cocoa buyers to the regulator, Cocobod, reached 685,461 tonnes by Feb. 3, industry sources said.
Total purchases for the week, the eighteenth since the season began in October, dropped to 9,510 tonnes, down from 10,983 tonnes in week 17 and 21,252 tonnes in week 16, pointing to the main crop tailing off, officials said.
There is keen interest in Ghana's crop as supplies from top grower and neighbour Ivory Coast dry up due to an export ban and sanctions caused by a disputed election.
Speculation is mounting that Ivorian beans are being increasingly smuggled into Ghana, the world's No. 2 exporter.
But Cocobod Chief Executive Tony Fofie reiterated that the increase in this year's output was the result of improved farming techniques and favourable weather conditions.
"There is no significant record of Ivory Coast cocoa coming to Ghana so far -- it seems our rigorous monitoring system is working," Fofie said, repeating earlier warnings that beans found not to be of Ghanaian quality would not be paid for.
"We have held meetings with the LBCs (licensed buying companies) and they know the consequences of accepting Ivorian beans - we told them the entire world was watching and we will suffer if we don't protect the quality of our beans," he added.
While Ivory Coast has long been the top grower, Ghana has enjoyed a premium price for its beans because of their quality.
Farmers and buyers also said any inflow was minimal and any Ivorian beans were probably being smuggled through Liberia and Togo.
Ghana's current main crop is expected to last 33 weeks and will be followed by the smaller light crop which could last up to 11 weeks.
Cocobod Deputy Chief Executive Yaw Adu-Ampomah told Reuters purchases were winding down but could pick up again around April-May just before the end of the main crop.
"The crop is tailing off and it's normal," he said, adding that output would "definitely" reach the 800,000-tonne target for the year.
Cocobod has outlined a medium-term target of harvesting 1 million tonnes of cocoa by the 2012/13 season through increased fertilization, enhanced farm husbandry and offering farmers attractive incentives.
Source: (Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; editing by David Lewis and Keiron Henderson) ((dakar.newsroom@reuters.com; +221 33 864 5076))
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